TikTok asked moderators to suppress posts by ‘ugly, poor or disabled’ people: Report

TikTok is in the news once again. And this around its content moderation policies are under question. A new report states that TikTok asked its content moderators to suppress posts by ugly, poor, overweight or disabled people.

The Intercept obtained the company's internal memos, wherein moderators were being instructed to suppress posts by content creators with abnormal body shapes. This includes people who were obese or too thin. The memo also asked the moderators to suppress posts of people whom they deemed unattractive from the app's algorithmic news feed called the For You section.

The report states that TikTok has a policy that prohibits posts containing 'ugly facial looks', dwarfism, 'obvious beer belly', 'too many wrinkles', 'eye disorders' and other 'low quality traits'.

The story doesn't end there. The Bytedance-owned app also asked its content moderators to filter out videos where the shooting environment was 'shabby and dilapidated'. This included slums, rural fields and dilapidated houses. The only exception was the 'rural beautiful natural scenery'.

It remains unclear how widespread or for how long the popular video sharing app has been adhering to these practices. However, a TikTok spokesperson told the publication that these practices were no longer in use. These rules "represented an early blunt attempt at preventing bullying, but are no longer in place, and were already out of use when The Intercept obtained them," the spokesperson said.