Let’s be honest: no one reads the terms of service or the rules of social networks before they start posting something. This is no exception on TikTok, which is why users face an unpleasant shadow ban or account blocking.
We decided to prepare a mini-guide on why you can be banned on TikTok and what videos will likely be deleted as a violation of the user agreement. Don’t repeat other people’s mistakes if you don’t want to say goodbye to your account.
Top 10 Things You Shouldn’t Do on TikTok
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Incite violence:
If you call for violence in your videos or even comments (it can even be a harmless joke), get ready to say goodbye to your account. TikTok reacts very harshly to complaints regarding incitement to violence;
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Shoot content 18+:
TikTok is allowed to be used by people aged 12-14, so all 18+ videos should not contain direct appeals, explicit nudity, or direct text. But if it’s an account of an underwear store or a sexologist’s blog, for example, special filters, hashtags, and icons are used to mark content for 18+ audiences;
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Calling for suicide:
A tough taboo topic for TikTok is self-harm, violence, and suicide. They should not be raised in any way; even if you are a psychologist and want to talk about how to prevent this, you need to be very careful and choose the right words. You should avoid repetition of “violence,” “suicide,” etc.;
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Posting shocking content:
This includes accident footage, the presence of blood in the video, screams in the background, and sharp objects (including kitchen knives unless it is a cooking blog, and quite often, such videos need to be labeled as fake knives). If you’re filming a video about serial killers or other true crime, you can’t use photos of victims, and you should label the video as fake blood at the beginning;
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Post content related to scams and violations of the law:
For example, casinos (if not a stylized party, then mark as a fake casino), selling alcohol to minors, pyramid schemes, and selling weapons (if it is a prop, mark as a fake knife, fake sword). In cases where the content shows you offering services, such as freelance options for the audience or opportunities to pay someone to do research paper, analyze the target country’s laws, as the law may prohibit specific services or contain some taxes;
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Publish content that shows cruelty to animals or illegal sale of animals:
There was a case when a dog grooming salon was blocked because of a video of a dog being cut and whining. You need to be very careful about choosing topics for your video niches, for example, in this particular case, remove the dog’s whining, show the haircut process in macro, and at the end, a happy owner and dog;
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Blackmail and harassment:
Even iOS features that can be used to spy on someone are identified by TikTok as potentially dangerous, and we have had a case where such a video was removed. Moderators also monitor comments where people can blackmail, call for violence, or use personal data;
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Impersonation:
This is especially true for those blogs that create fan pages for actors and merge some video and photo cuts into their profiles, wanting to gain an audience by name. A few careless posts a few complaints about cheating, and your profile will be blocked. Therefore, do not make Nina Dobrev official pages, and be sure to write “Fan page…” in your bio;
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Violate copyright:
If you unknowingly or deliberately post a video that violates copyright (music, video or photo, drawing, text…), TikTok may simply delete the video for the first time. But if this happens systematically, you can say goodbye to your profile 3-5 times. Therefore, if you take a video from somewhere, tag the person, record a joint video, and indicate the resource;
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Posting disinforming videos:
It’s a fine line here because moderators may not fully understand which videos are disinforming and which are true. If you plan to make a political investigation show, TikTok is probably not the right platform.
More Facts
There are a lot of rules on TikTok that can lead to a shadow ban, restrictions, and a permanent ban. Sometimes, even a trivial video of you eating or joking about something can lead to account deletion. This is because there are many children on the platform, and the social network rules apply to the whole world. So, they must consider the nuances of different religions and mentalities.
Often, if you don’t break the rules systematically and if it’s not a strict rule, such as calling for violence or publishing nudity, you can appeal and explain that the videos don’t violate the rules. But it’s best to plan your formats well and think about not giving TikTok moderation a nightmare.
Some Random Tips:
- Use tags: Fake blood, fake body, fake sound;
- Label videos by age;
- Use neutral synonyms;
- Do not violate copyright;
- Don’t be afraid to file appeals;
If you see a video that violates the rules or is unpleasant to you, remember to complain. This is how you make the social network better.
All in all, it’s hard to cover all the social media rules that can lead to blocking. But we have collected the cream of the crop of what to avoid.
