TikTookay will start requiring accounts belonging to US authorities departments, politicians and political events to be verified and can ban movies aimed toward marketing campaign fundraising, the short-form video app mentioned on Wednesday.

The transfer comes as TikTookay, owned by China’s ByteDance, and different social media platforms are working to clamp down on political misinformation forward of the US midterm elections in November, after years of being criticised for permitting such content material to flourish on their providers.

Political accounts can submit a request for verification, TikTookay mentioned, and the corporate will even work to verify the authenticity of profiles it believes belong to politicians or political events.

A verified account, indicated by a blue verify mark on TikTookay and different platforms like Twitter, means the platform has confirmed the possession of the account.

TikTookay has lengthy confronted scrutiny from US lawmakers, who’ve questioned the Chinese-owned app’s safeguards of person knowledge. The app has additionally sought to protect its picture as a spot for dance movies and comedy skits, and has banned political promoting since 2019.

To assist implement the ban, accounts belonging to politicians and events will mechanically be prevented from accessing promoting options, TikTookay mentioned in a weblog submit.

TikTookay mentioned it would replace its insurance policies to ban marketing campaign fundraising. Content that shall be banned beneath the brand new coverage contains movies from politicians soliciting donations or political events directing customers to make a donation on their web site.

The accounts will even be prohibited from utilizing money-making options accessible to influencers on the app, like digital funds and gifting.

© Thomson Reuters 2022