How are rules enforced on TikTok and Instagram?

TikTok and Instagram revolve around user images, but not everything is allowed. These rules determine whether your photo or video is allowed on Instagram or Tiktok.

Do TikTok and Instagram have rules?

You can’t just add anything to your account on Instagram or TikTok. This way you will not easily encounter 18 plus material or other things that cannot be accepted.

The different platforms have their own rules for this. For example, Instagram has drawn up specific guidelines for the community. It includes, among other things:

• No photos, videos depicting sexual intercourse, genitals or close-ups of naked buttocks.
• No female nipples, except in the context of breastfeeding, childbirth and postpartum, health-related situations or protests.
• Obey the law, so no terrorism, organized crime or hate groups.
• It is never okay to encourage violence or attack anyone based on race, origin, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability or disease.

TikTok also has community guidelines. It includes, among other things:

• We do not allow users to share content that depicts, promotes, normalizes, or glorifies dangerous acts that could result in serious injury or death.
• We will remove content that depicts suicide, involves suicidal ideation, or that could encourage suicide or self-injurious behavior.
• Our platform does not allow content that is unnecessarily shocking, graphic, sadistic or gruesome, or promotes, normalizes or glorifies extreme violence or suffering.
• We do not allow nudity, pornography or sexually explicit content on our platform.

These rules on Instagram and TikTok sometimes change, for example due to new insights. For example, the Meta advisory board called in January to allow female nipples, because male nipples are also allowed. Who knows, the rules will change in the near future on Instagram and TikTok.

How is that checked?

So many images are uploaded to TikTok and Instagram that it is impossible to check them all manually. A combination of artificial intelligence and human power is used for this.

Instagram states that artificial intelligence is central to checking the rules. For example, it spots a genital or a breast, after which the content is automatically removed or restrictions are imposed.

This artificial intelligence is trained by Meta to recognize specific things. So if the AI ​​has seen a lot of pictures of breasts, it will also be able to recognize breasts in the images of users. That doesn’t always go well. Certainly the content creators who often push the boundaries are regularly screwed by these systems.

People are watching

If the AI ​​is unsure, an employee must look at the images to decide whether it fits within the rules. You can imagine that these people get to see the most horrible things all day long. Especially when artificial intelligence wasn’t that good yet.

Instagram states that the AI ​​learns from every human decision, so (if it’s good) they have to see less and less of those disgusting images. But those systems still don’t work well enough for artificial intelligence to recognize everything. TikTok works in a similar way.

Erroneously deleted

Do you have the impression that your content has been unjustly removed by an artificial intelligence or by an employee? While you are sure that you have followed the rules of Instagram or TikTok? Then you can go against that. On both platforms you will receive a message when your images have been removed.

On Instagram, choose ‘request review’ and follow the instructions. Someone will then check again whether or not your content is allowed. On TikTok, go to the notification and tap ‘appeal’ and follow the instructions.

More about Instagram

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