TikTok reportedly gives special status to certain accounts

A report by the newspaper suggests that TikTok staff has created a hierarchy of users, with certain individuals or groups assigned internal tags that allow them more freedom with the content that they post. Internal tags that point to an elevated status have been assigned to certain users. These tags include “super account”, “super account super account”, “Top PGC” and “top creator”.

TikTok has denied these claims, stating that all users are bound by the same guidelines, and they are unaware of any special status tags.

Accounts with special tags include Sam Smith, KSI, and Russell Brand, who is currently facing multiple claims of sexual misconduct. Others include TV presenter Michael Barrymore, and YouTuber Ethan Payne. It is not clear whether they are aware of these tags on their accounts.

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The article says: "The Guardian has been investigating TikTok amid ongoing concern about how it moderates its more than 1 billion users worldwide and has seen internal communications that are likely to raise fresh questions about how the app is policed... According to the internal communications seen by The Guardian, moderators have been told to treat accounts that carry those tags more leniently than those of other users."

They report seeing one message sent by an adviser to a group of more than 70 moderaters, telling them to be "more lenient" to "top creators" in something described as "edge cases". An anonymous TikTok staff member said: “I understand it to mean that if you consider a video to be an edge case then you are urged to not apply policies if it’s a top creator," whilst The Guardian believes an "edge case" to "refer to videos that are considered on the borderline of flouting TikTok’s guidelines."