TikTok said Wednesday it will limit the spread of videos shared on its service that claim victory in any upcoming U.S. election before the results of that race are called by The Associated Press.
Less than a week before voting ends, TikTok’s announcement made the video-sharing platform the latest social media service to plan for the possibility of content prematurely claiming victory.
“With heightened focus around Election Day, we’ll be partnering with these fact checkers to reduce discoverability of content that prematurely claims victory in a race before results are confirmed by The Associated Press,” said Eric Han, TikTok’s head of safety.
“Out of an abundance of caution, if claims can’t be verified or fact-checking is inconclusive, we’ll limit distribution of the content,” Mr. Han said on TikTok’s official website.
Millions of Americans have already voted early in the presidential election and races ending Nov. 3, and the increased use of mail-in ballots is expected to cause a delay in determining results.
Social media companies including Twitter and Facebook have accordingly unveiled new policies meant to prevent users from spreading misinformation about the upcoming elections and their outcomes.
Twitter said it will flag posts on its platform that claim victory before results have been called by state election officials or projected by at least two authoritative national news outlets.
Facebook recently announced it will temporarily stop running all political ads upon polls closing “to reduce opportunities for confusion or abuse,” such as ads prematurely claiming victory.
TikTok boasted earlier this year of having about 100 million users in the U.S.
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