With the U.S. Election campaign gradually gaining momentum, TikTok has today announced an updated U.S. Election Center in the app, which will feature a range of informational tools to help keep TikTok users accurately informed in the lead up to the vote.
As explained by TikTok:
“Today, we’re expanding the resources available in our US Election Center, in partnership with nonprofit Democracy Works, to help our community access reliable information about the election. Updates include new, detailed voting FAQs from authoritative sources that can help people better understand how elections work. And in November, we’ll work with The Associated Press to make election results available in our app in real time.”
TikTok says that its election center, which it’s also launched in previous election cycles, will also provide access to details about what’s on the ballot, as well as links to reliable third-party sources.
On that front, TikTok’s also partnering with MediaWise on a new series of media literacy content.
As you can see, this new series will look to highlight common misinformation approaches, to help keep TikTok users aware of such tactics.
TikTok’s also looking to expand these resources into other languages in the coming weeks.
TikTok’s also sharing regular updates on content removals related to the election.
Seems like a lot more AI-generated material is cropping up over time.
Finally, TikTok’s also formed an internal US Elections Integrity Advisory Group, which will provide guidance on key election information features, while it’s also providing education to public figures on its various safety features and policies.
In combination, that’s a lot of integrity elements, which will be a costly investment for the app.
Indeed, TikTok says that it plans to spend more than $2 billion on trust and safety elements this year, “including continued investment in election integrity and our U.S. operations.”
Which seems like a lot for an app that’s looking increasingly likely to be forced out of the U.S. either way.
That’s not to say that TikTok should lessen its focus on security and safety measures as a result of the U.S. sell-off push, which it’s still fighting in court. But it does seem a little fruitless. The U.S. Government has already approved a bill to force the app into U.S. ownership, so it’s not like the penalty for failing to comply with safety requirements could be much worse for the app.
Still, every platform has a responsibility on this front, and TikTok is looking to show that it is taking such seriously.
So while it may still be banned in the U.S. from early next year, working to improve its misinformation detection and policing tools is still an important step.
