With the recent discovery of Russian state media outlets engaging in activities to influence the U.S. election, major social media platforms are taking action to combat this threat. Following Meta’s lead, TikTok has also removed several Russian state media networks from its platform. This move comes as part of TikTok’s expanded U.S. election integrity measures.
The efforts of these Russian networks were aimed at strategically pushing U.S. voters towards viewpoints beneficial to Russia, prompting swift action from Meta and now TikTok. The discovery of coordinated influence activity led both platforms to take necessary steps to address this issue.
TikTok announced that it has removed accounts associated with Rossiya Segodnya and TV-Novosti for engaging in covert influence operations, which violate the platform’s Community Guidelines. These accounts had previously been restricted in the EU and U.K. and were ineligible for the “For You” feed under TikTok’s State-Affiliated Media policy.
The latest evidence of Russian groups attempting to manipulate U.S. voters underscores the ongoing threat posed by such programs. This issue first gained attention in 2016 when Russian operatives were found to be using social media to influence U.S. voters.
In response to these revelations, Meta has distanced itself from political content altogether to avoid the scrutiny and pressure that came with it. The move highlights the importance of combating artificial influence efforts in social media platforms like TikTok.
TikTok’s recent covert influence operation report revealed that the platform removed 5 networks and 7,792 accounts in August alone due to suspected manipulation activity. This highlights the ongoing efforts of foreign groups to sway voters for their benefit in various regions.