An update to the Tiktok guide is coming soon. This is what creators and commenters mean

Tiktok announced the latest information on its community guide to make its rules clearer and easier to follow, Sandeep Grover, Tiktok’s global head of trust and security, wrote in a blog post. These changes will take effect on September 13.

Now, community guidelines will have a summary of each policy one by one. But it’s not just the format that will change. According to the blog post, Tiktok will introduce new misinformation rules, merging rules for gambling, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, guns and other weapons, and improve its bullying policies, etc.

You can compare current community guidelines with new guidelines that will take effect next month. General rules for security and civilization, psychological and behavioral health, sensitive and mature subjects, integrity and authenticity, regulated goods, services and business activities, and privacy and security are now clearly on the page.

Previously, the home page only contained sections about content reviews, which were basically the same, but had some copy changes. As TechCrunch noted, the content review section that is about to become form says, “Keeping our platform secure, trustworthy and energetic requires a balance of creative expression and preventing harm.” Now, it will say, “We want Tiktok to be a safe, fun and creative place for everyone” – remove “trustworthy” from these guidelines.

The error message part that relies on integrity and authenticity is almost the same, but has some language editing. For example, previous guidelines state that unverified information about emergencies does not match your feed; new claims about “crisis and major citizen incidents.”

Tiktok also changed the account and features section, which included rules on features like Tiktok Live, search, external links, comments, direct messages, and monetization. (You can also compare current account and feature pages to upcoming pages.) Tiktok extends this section, such as explicitly describing what constitutes its rules.

For example, on the Tiktok Live section, the current guide states that live creators are responsible for anything that happens during the meeting, even if it includes third-party tools such as voice-to-text. If the speech to text reads harmful comments, the creator is responsible for enabling the tool.

Expansions about life don’t qualify for your feed, including sessions showing “low-quality content”, such as blank screens, or “potentially frustrating materials that may cause anxiety or fear, such as horrible makeup.”

The comments section has also been expanded. Tiktok noted that their comments may be reduced if they are “not added to the conversation”, such as including profane or offensive statements.

Grover said the changes were informed through conversations with creators, experts and organizations, including the app’s regional advisory committee. The app has trained humans and AI hosts to apply these new rules. Grover noted in particular that the app will continue to invest in “modern technologies” including AI to enforce its policies.

These community guidelines editors came shortly after Tiktok introduced the fact-check community notes and the parent lockdown feature last month.