TikTok, the popular short-video platform, has announced a new feature that allows users to refresh their For You feed. The feature comes as part of TikTok’s efforts to ensure an enjoyable viewing experience for its users while also enabling self-expression. The For You feed is a feature that helps TikTok users discover a diversity of content, creators, communities, and products. However, there are times when people’s recommendations don’t feel relevant anymore, or provide enough variety. To address this, TikTok is rolling out a way for users to refresh their For You feed recommendations, which allows them to view content as if they just signed up for TikTok. The recommendation system will then surface more content based on new interactions.
The refresh feature is the latest addition to a number of content controls that TikTok users already have to shape their experience. These include the ability to filter out videos that use specific hashtags or phrases from their For You feeds, and to skip future videos from a particular creator or that use a particular sound. Enabling the refresh feature won’t override any settings users have already chosen to enable or impact accounts they’ve followed.
TikTok has also implemented over 15 updates over the last year to improve its systems, along with expanding to support more languages. The company’s trust and safety and product teams partner to drive this work, which is informed by academic literature and consultation with experts, such as the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital in the US.
In addition to the For You feed refresh feature, TikTok has also announced an updated system for account enforcement. The move aims to better act against those who repeatedly violate the policies, helping TikTok to remove harmful accounts more efficiently while promoting a clearer and more consistent experience for most creators who want to follow policies. The updated account enforcement system is currently rolling out globally, and TikTok said it would notify all community members as the new system becomes available to them.
Under the new system, if someone posts content that violates one of TikTok’s community guidelines, the account will accrue a strike as the content is removed. If an account meets the threshold of strikes within either a product feature (i.e. comments, LIVE) or policy (i.e. bullying and harassment), it will be permanently banned. Those policy thresholds can vary depending on a violation’s potential to cause harm to community members.
TikTok will continue to issue permanent bans on the first strike for severe violations, including promoting or threatening violence, showing or facilitating child sexual abuse material, or showing real-world violence or torture. As an additional safeguard, accounts that accrue a high number of cumulative strikes across policies and features will also be permanently banned. Strikes will expire from an account’s record after 90 days.
TikTok will roll out new features in the Safety Center provided to creators in-app in the coming weeks to further support creators. These include an “account status” page where creators can easily view the standing of their account, and a “report records” page where creators can see the status of reports they have made on other content or accounts. These new tools add to the notifications creators already receive if they have violated policies, and support creators’ ability to appeal enforcements and have strikes removed if valid. TikTok will also begin notifying creators if they are on the verge of being banned due to repeat violations.
