Short video platform, TikTok has clampdown on perceived offensive videos globally, including Nigeria.

Owned by Bytedance, TikTok removed over 3.6 million videos posted by Nigerian users in the first quarter of 2025 for violating its content policy. Globally, it removed 211 million videos.

According to the firm’s Q1 2025 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, TikTok restated the importance of a safe, respectful, and trustworthy digital environment.

Analysis of the report showed that the 3.6 million removed Nigerian videos, showed a 50 per cent increase in removals over the previous quarter, where 2.4 million videos from the country were removed for the same violation.

The company said it recorded a proactive detection rate of 98.4 per cent, which is content removed before it was reported to TikTok, and 92.1 per cent of videos were removed within 24 hours.

Earlier in March 2025, TikTok also removed 129 accounts in West Africa tied to covert operations.

Further analysis showed that in the Q1, 2025, the 211 million videos removed rose from the 153 million videos removed in the previous quarter, where some 184 million were yanked off the platform.

The platform’s global proactive detection rate reached 99 per cent, demonstrating continued improvements in identifying and removing harmful content quickly and effectively.

TikTok explained that on spam and fake engagements, it removed a total of 44.7 million comments from fake accounts between January and March this year.

In addition, it also removed 4.3 billion fake likes in the period under review. According to TikTok, the removed likes, followers, and follow requests were discovered to have come through ‘automated or inauthentic mechanisms’.

TikTok noted: “We remain vigilant in our efforts to detect external threats and safeguard the platform from fake accounts and engagement. These threats persistently probe and attack our systems, leading to occasional fluctuations in the reported metrics within these areas.

“Despite this, we are steadfast in our commitment to promptly identify and remove any accounts, content, or activities that seek to artificially boost popularity on our platform.”

Further, while TikTok LIVE enables creators and viewers to connect, create, and build communities together in real-time, the platform has intensified its LIVE Monetization Guidelines, making it clearer how some content is not eligible for monetization.

The firm said LIVE content enforcement also remained a top priority. In the first quarter of 2025, TikTok banned 42,196 LIVE rooms and interrupted 48,156 streams in Nigeria that were found to violate the platform’s community guidelines. (The Guardian)