TikTok drops 'blunt' cyberbullying policy

TikTok has dropped a "blunt" cyberbullying policy, Chinese-owned sharing app said Wednesday after a report it hid posts by disabled, gay and overweight people.

People deemed "susceptible to harassment or cyberbullying based on ir physical or mental condition" h reach of ir posts restricted, German site NetzPolitik.org reported, citing leaked documents from Tiktok.

People with facial disfigurements, autism and Down syndrome were among those to have ir posts dumped down TikTok's algorithm so ors on social network would t see m, report said.

Gay and overweight people "also ended up on a list of 'special users' whose videos were regarded as a bullying risk by default and capped in ir reach," report said.

When asked about report, TikTok told AFP on Wednesday that it w recognised " approach was wrong" and said it h dropped policy.

"Early on, in response to an increase in bullying on app, we implemented a blunt and temporary policy. This was never designed to be a long-term solution, but rar a way to help man a troubling trend," a TikTok spokesman said.

"While intention was good, it became clear that approach was wrong and we have since removed policy in favor of more nuanced anti-bullying policies and in-app protections." 

TikTok did t respond to a follow-up query about specifics of policy. It did t say when policy was dropped.

However, according to NetzPolitik.org, restrictions could involve limiting posts to a local rar than global audience.

Those deemed most vulnerable h ir posts put in a "t recommend" category so y were me nearly invisible, it said.

"Strictly speaking, such videos are t deleted -- but in fact y hardly have an audience," report said.

Tiktok, launched by Chinese company ByteDance in September 2017, has quickly become one of most popular social networks in world, with young people its main market.

In vember, app hit 1.5 billion downlos worldwide, outperforming Instagram.

Users typically post short clips of mselves performing skits, lip-syncing and dancing.

But TikTok has come under scrutiny recently over wher it censors content deemed sensitive by China's authoritarian rulers.

Last week, it apologised for removing a viral video that condemned Beijing's crackdown on Muslims in western Chinese region of Xinjiang.

A university student in California this month filed a class-action lawsuit against TikTok, accusing it of harvesting large amounts of user data and storing it in China.

US senators have also warned that TikTok's owner ByteDance could be forced to share user information with Chinese intelligence.

TikTok said in a statement in October its operations were t influenced by Chinese government.

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