NEW YORK — TikTok is introducing new rules to limit the reach of state-affiliated media accounts trying to exert influence abroad during a crucial election year.
The company, which started labeling state media two years ago, announced in a statement Thursday that identified accounts that try to “reach communities outside their home countries about current global events and issues” will not appear on the main feed where users watch videos.
TikTok also said that state media accounts that advertise on the platform will no longer be allowed to do so outside their home countries in the coming weeks.
The new policy comes a few weeks after a study by the nonprofit Brookings Institution found that Russian state accounts had boosted their use of the platform and were posting more in English and Spanish.
The spread of foreign propaganda is also a problem on other social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, owned by Meta, and Elon Musk’s X. However, TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, has been at the center of the fray. a heated political debate, with many federal lawmakers and some government officials arguing that it poses a more serious threat to national security and could potentially operate at the whims of the Chinese government.
TikTok has repeatedly denied these claims and is currently suing the federal government over the new law that would force it to cut ties with its parent company in order to continue operating in the US. ByteDance is also a plaintiff in that lawsuit.
The short video platform added Thursday that it will provide regular updates on what it is doing to fight back against covert influence operations on its platform. In the first four months of this year, TikTok said it disrupted 15 such operations, including one that targeted Indonesian audiences ahead of the presidential election earlier this year.