TikTok is finally committed to more transparency. One of the most popular apps for teens around the world released its very first transparency report on December 30. The document, which was released online, describes the countries that have submitted requests to remove content, but also to access data from its users.
France is said to be the source of several requests for information, between January and June 2019: two for the withdrawal of content, and eight for access to the data of its nationals, including three "urgent" concerning 17 user profiles.
Two account deletions requested by the French authorities
TikTok states that it responded favorably to 12% of the requests from the French authorities, without further details. The French government has reportedly made two withdrawal requests for two TikTok accounts, which the Chinese social network has agreed to delete.
TikTok specifies in its report that official bodies can demand the "removal of content that violates local laws". Requests from organizations may also relate to an ongoing judicial investigation or an emergency during which account information is required.
No inquiry from China
TikTok says it has not received requests from Beijing, while the video playback platform is owned by the Chinese giant ByteDance, which this year has been the subject of much criticism for its moderation. The fact that the application works differently in its country of origin, under the name of Douyin, could explain this absence, according to the American magazine The Verge .
From January to June 2019, TikTok indicates that it has in total "responded to 298 official requests received from 28 countries". A report for the second half of 2019 should be published in the coming months.
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