TikTok had reportedly directed its moderators to prevent people with “ugly facial looks” or the ones who shot videos in “slums” or “dilapidated housing” from promoting their posts to its widely viewed “For You” section.
According to an insider, “The policies had once been in place but the guidelines were “an early blunt attempt at preventing bullying” that are no longer used.”
Some of these discriminatory guidelines were leaked in the past, unveiling that TikTok intentionally prevented posts from LGBTQ users and users with disabilities from surfacing in this section. Apart from that, they also banned people who have an “abnormal body shape” such as a “beer belly” or “ugly facial looks” such as “too many wrinkles.”
Moreover, the guidelines also ban videos or posts from the ones who appear to be poor.
While TikTok said that the goal was to prevent people from getting bullied. However, the notes accompanying these restrictions explained something different. It reads, “If the character’s appearance or the shooting environment is not good, the video will be much less attractive, not worthy to be recommended to new users.”
However, a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the guidelines “were not for the US market.” And the company has made many of the changes over the past year.
