The micro-video platform TikTok is looking for a way to ban it from being used to raise funds for political parties. To this end, new restrictions are being studied, mainly in the run-up to the U.S. elections. The electoral rules are being extended to make it more difficult for politicians and political groups to raise campaign funds through the platform. In the same way, there are plans to prohibit the advertising of fundraising activities. These changes come six weeks before the mid-term elections scheduled for November.
Blake Chandlee, president of global business solutions at TikTok, made a blog post to explain what will be the campaign that will disable advertising and monetization features. To this is added, within the restriction, the possibility of receiving gifts and tips for politicians or their parties within the platform. Accounts belonging to governments, politicians and political parties must also request their corresponding verification.
TikTok and campaign fundraising ban
Chandlee noted in his publication, that:
“By banning the fundraising campaign and limiting access to our monetization and account checking features, our goal is to strike a balance between allowing people to discuss issues that are relevant to their lives.”
The Chinese app’s president of global business solutions also noted that it seeks to “protect the creative and entertaining platform that our community wants.”
In the coming weeks, as reported by the social network, the implementation of this ban on fundraising for political campaigns will be implemented. The search for donations through TikTok, in view of the platform’s initiative, will be avoided in future legislatures. Jamie Favazza, a spokesperson for the company, told The Verge that it seeks to enforce these new rules “through a combination of technology and human moderation”.
Seeking not to be used politically
Favazza expressed that they will work so that “governments, politicians and political parties” can verify their accounts. To do so, a verification request must be submitted, the spokesperson expanded on this that “if we identify an account that we believe belongs to a government, politician or political party, we will confirm the authenticity of the account and begin the verification process.”
This measure is one of the most comprehensive election integrity initiatives to come out of TikTok this year. During August, the company began describing its plans to address any threat of harmful disinformation. The focus was on the political side and the prohibition of people having to pay or donate to influential people or political parties for their content.
Although the platform banned in 2019, all types of political advertising, it has found it impossible to curb the uploading of this type of information within the platform. Dozens of politicians, who aim to run for office this year, have been opening TikTok accounts to reach out to young audiences and raise some money.
