TikTok is rolling out updated mute settings for comments and questions during live streams.
Hosts (or their trusted helper) can now temporarily silence a viewer for a few seconds or minutes—or the duration of the broadcast, if necessary. Muted accounts may continue watching the live stream, but their entire comment history will also be removed.
“Livestreaming on TikTok is an exciting way for creators and viewers to connect, and we’re building safety into the experience by design,” Eric Han, head of US Safety at TikTok, wrote in a blog announcement. “We hope these new controls further empower hosts and audiences alike to have safe and entertaining livestreams.”
The move follows this week’s release of TikTok’s Q2 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, detailing content that violates the rules and accounts removed between April and June 2021—which account for less than 1% of all videos uploaded to the platform, according to TikTok.
“We’re continuing to make steady progress in our proactive detection of hateful behavior, bullying, and harassment,” Han said, crediting system improvements that flag hate symbols, words, and other abuse signals for further review by safety teams. “Harassment as a whole, and hate speech in particular, are highly nuanced and contextual issues that can be challenging to detect and moderate correctly every time,” he continued. “Bullying can be highly personal and require offline context that isn’t always available.”
Users can already filter comments on their content, delete or report multiple comments at once, and block accounts in bulk. The social network also prompts people to consider the impact of their words before posting potentially unkind or illicit comments.
TikTok, which recently surpassed 1 billion monthly active users, in July joined Facebook, Google, and Twitter in a pledge to tackle online abuse and improve women’s safety. The firms promised more granular settings, simplified language and better guidance, easy access to safety tools, and the ability to track and manage reports.
