TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies earlier than the Home Power and Commerce Committee within the Rayburn Home Workplace Constructing on Capitol Hill on March 23, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs
To identify and take away offensive posts, TikTok has tens of hundreds of staff, who’re led by a bunch in Eire, tasked with content material moderation, CEO Shou Zi Chew mentioned on Thursday.
Talking on the TED2023 Risk convention in Vancouver, British Columbia, Chew mentioned TikTok has “clear neighborhood tips” and that executives don’t “make any ad-hoc selections” when coping with “dangerous actors” on the web who submit offensive content material on the app.
“Primarily based on that, now we have constructed a crew that’s tens of hundreds of individuals plus machines as a way to determine content material that’s dangerous, and actively, proactively take away it from the platform,” Chew mentioned.
Whereas Chew made it sound as if the staff had been situated in Eire, a spokesperson mentioned after preliminary publication of this story that “the group is predicated in Eire” with “tens of hundreds of moderators all over the world.”
TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, is beneath intense strain from U.S. lawmakers who need to ban the app over issues it poses a menace to nationwide safety. Chew’s feedback come weeks after the CEO withstood a barrage of powerful questioning from U.S. legislators, who’ve additionally criticized TikTok for failing to stop the unfold of offensive content material on its platform or deal with its contribution to an increase in teenage despair.
“As an organization, our objective is to not optimize and maximize time spent,” Chew mentioned on Thursday, including that when individuals are glued to their smartphone screens TikTok “will proactively ship you movies to let you know to get off the platform.”
The dangerous content material downside just isn’t distinctive to TikTok. U.S. rivals, together with Meta, guardian of Fb and Instagram, and Google’s YouTube, have confronted related questions from lawmakers.
Chew mentioned TikTok takes the matter critically.
“We actually encourage dad and mom to have these conversations with their youngsters of what’s the correct amount of display screen time,” Chew mentioned. “I feel there is a wholesome relationship that it’s best to have together with your display screen and, as a enterprise, you understand, we imagine that that steadiness must be met.”
Chew additionally introduced up TikTok’s Venture Texas initiative, which is on the coronary heart of the corporate’s effort to reassure the general public that the information of U.S. customers will stay on home soil and will not fall into the arms of international governments, most notably China.
Though TikTok is partnering with Silicon Valley software program vendor Oracle to retailer and shield person knowledge, U.S. lawmakers stay involved that Beijing might eavesdrop on U.S. residents or probably unfold propaganda through the TikTok app.
“I can say that we’re constructing all of the instruments to stop any of those actions from taking place,” Chew mentioned. “And I am very assured that with an unprecedented quantity of transparency that we’re giving on the platform, we are able to scale back this threat to as little as zero as potential.”
WATCH: How TikTok ban will profit different social media giants like Meta and Twitter
