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In late August, a video of a man committing suicide was posted on Facebook. The graphic video spread to other platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, but continued to appear on TikTok weeks later as the app struggled to remove the awful content.
TikTok recently took on the House of Commons to explain how this happened, blaming “bad actors.” On Friday, Australia’s Select Committee on Foreign Interference via Social Media continued this line of questions by speaking to the local general manager and global security director for the controversial app.
According to the general manager of TikTok Australia and New Zealand, Lee Hunter, the live stream was removed, but the copies appeared faster than they could be detected.
“When we had our technology examine that video, we removed it immediately. But when my colleague in the UK was discussing this idea of these bad actors, unfortunately over the course of a week, we saw about 10,000 variations of that video proving to be uploaded to the TikTok platform, “he explained.
How exactly these videos bypassed the platform’s controls, the CEO said he would rather not say so, explaining that doing so would highlight some of the methods that were adopted to evade detection. However, he said that as soon as TikTok learned of the video and found it, the company began to “act quickly and aggressively” to remove it.
“It wasn’t just a case of copies of the video, it was a case that – I won’t go into too much detail here because I don’t want to provide any fuel for people to follow – but splice the content into other content, so it seems innocuous to the beginning and then you find it. “
By tasking their systems with better detecting such content, Hunter said the platform’s moderation teams around the world were focused on addressing what had happened.
“As far as I know, where we are now is that the content is not on the TikTok platform. That is not to say that the surveillance stops,” he said.
TikTok recently wrote to the heads of some of its peers, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Reddit, proposing a memorandum of understanding to allow the group of social media companies to share information to better protect against the availability of such content on their respective sites.
“We can be better armed to prevent it from happening on a variety of platforms,” Hunter said. “That kind of collaboration between our peers that we see is key. We all have the same goals of protecting our users. We all have the same goals and make sure this content is not available on our platforms.”
While the committee focuses on how social media plays a role in potential damage to Australia’s democracy, TikTok representatives were also asked whether the platform could be “undermined and infiltrated by bots and bad actors.” Additionally, the committee asked representatives how TikTok could be sure it has political influence under control.
“If you can’t even protect children from watching suicide videos, how the hell are you going to protect Australian voters from political interference?” Asked Green Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
“Unfortunately, with user-generated content platforms, these bad actors try to upload disruptive content of this nature. Now, the key is not to pretend it doesn’t exist, but to act quickly and invest in technologies and people and moderation policies to allow it not to appear on platforms to protect our users, “Hunter said in response.
He said that when it comes to foreign interference, TikTok employs moderation technology and equipment to help you understand when you encounter coordinated inauthentic behavior and “seek to act quickly on that.”
“The idea of misinformation and misinformation goes against our community guidelines and is something that we do not tolerate on the platform. We consider this surveillance to be continuous and evolving and something you never stop trying to improve on,” he said.
TikTok representatives realized how many Australian accounts viewed the suicide video and what the equivalent remuneration was for local TikTok operations during the period the video went viral.
At the beginning of his testimony, Hunter said that the company’s Australian operations wanted to work with the government as much as possible to protect Australian users. But his company was unclear on whom he would contact if he removed coordinated inauthentic behavior from Australian users.
Hunter was also asked if there was a requirement for his company to report such behavior.
“I am not aware of any requirements,” he said.
The company’s local public policy director, Brent Thomas, chimed in to say that he expected TikTok to report to “some combination of DFAT, Department of Defense, and Department of Communications,” but admitted that no request has been made to the platform for share videos, or any clear instructions on who to notify and under what circumstances.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in August that he had “gotten a good look” at TikTok and that there was no evidence to suggest the misuse of anyone’s data.
“We have taken a look, a good look at this, and there is no evidence to allow us to suggest, having done that, that there is any misuse of anyone’s data that has occurred, at least from an Australian perspective, in relation with these applications, “he told the Aspen Security Forum.
“You know, there are a lot of things on TikTok that are embarrassing enough in public. So it’s kind of a social media device.”
Hunter and Thomas were unaware that the Australian government had taken steps to review TikTok’s operations in the country. They said they were not contacted by the Department of the Interior to provide information or verify any concerns.
“I think it’s pretty incredible that a government department conducts a security review of an organization that doesn’t ask them for any information or input,” said committee chair Jenny McAllister.
Thomas said that the first time TikTok learned that the review had taken place was when he saw Morrison’s public comments.
IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IN AUSTRALIA NEEDS HELP, PLEASE CONTACT ONE OF THESE SERVICES:
- Suicide Callback Service at 1300 659 467
- Lifeline at 13 11 14
- Helpline for children at 1800 551 800
- MensLine Australia at 1300789978
- Beyond Blue at 1300 22 46 36
- Headspace in 1800 650 890
- QLife on 1800184527
