TikTok is attacking misinformation on multiple fronts

With the 2024 United States presidential election just five weeks away, TikTok is ramping up its efforts to reduce the amount of misinformation on its platform. After terminating accounts linked to Russia-backed media companies RT and Sputnik, the ByteDance-owned app has announced a partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO).

TikTok and the WHO are teaming up to counter the medical misinformation that runs rampant on social media. To provide more “science-based information on health and wellbeing,” as the WHO puts it, the two firms are entering into a year-long collaboration that will proliferate the number of accurate medical opinions on TikTok.

To accomplish that goal, TikTok is turning to Fides, a WHO-backed network of reputable medical opinions. The Fides community includes 800 health creators, who collectively reach 150 million followers across platforms.

The WHO also operates its own TikTok account, through which it reaches 2.8 million followers. As it did at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO TikTok will provide dispatches from the world of public health.

@who The 77th World Health Assembly (#WHA77)

♬ original sound – World Health Organization (WHO)

Faulty medical advice is one form of social media misinformation, but it’s not the only one — and TikTok’s fight is extending into the arena of politics. Days before the announcement of its partnership with the WHO, the app purged accounts with ties to RT (short for Russia Today) and Sputnik, both of which have been linked to the Kremlin. A post discussing the terminations claimed that the affected accounts violated TikTok’s Community Guidelines by “engaging in covert influence operations.”

In terms of combatting misinformation, TikTok is keeping pace with some of its competitors. YouTube, for example, has taken action to cull both medical and political misinformation, and it too has imposed sanctions on RT and related channels. TikTok’s attempt to play catch-up will help it improve its public perception during a critical election season. With the app facing a court battle against the U.S. government, any positive press it can generate can help it immensely.