TikTok Removes 920,000 Videos in South Africa to Strengthen User Safety

TikTok has released its Q3 2025 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, highlighting the platform’s continued efforts to protect users in South Africa and globally.

Between July and September 2025, TikTok removed more than 920,000 videos in South Africa for violating its Community Guidelines. Of those removals, 99.5% were proactively identified before users reported them, and 96.7% were taken down within 24 hours of posting.

Global TikTok Content Moderation Figures

Globally, TikTok removed 204,534,932 videos during the same period. This represents approximately 0.7% of all content uploaded to the platform.

Key global enforcement statistics include:
• 99.3% of violative content removed proactively
• 94.8% removed within 24 hours
• 91% removed using automated AI moderation technologies
• More than 118 million fake accounts removed
• Over 22 million accounts suspected to be under the age of 13 removed

This marks one of TikTok’s highest-ever rates of 24-hour content removal.

Community Well-being and Mental Health in South Africa

Following the 2025 Digital Well-being Summit in Johannesburg, TikTok has expanded its focus on digital safety, mental health and community protection.

Between July and September 2025 in South Africa:
• 98.3% of content violating mental and behavioural health policies was removed within 24 hours
• Nearly 100,000 videos were removed for violating hate speech and violence policies
• 150,000 LIVE sessions were interrupted for breaching guidelines, representing 2% of LIVE streams during the period

These actions form part of TikTok’s broader strategy to reduce harmful content, bullying and misinformation.

New Digital Well-being Features

In November, TikTok introduced a new Time and Well-being hub, offering tools to help users build healthier digital habits.

New features include:
• Well-being Missions designed to encourage mindful use
• Teen-focused digital guidance tools
• Relaxation and screen-time management features

TikTok says the combination of AI-driven moderation and human trust and safety teams enables faster, more consistent enforcement across markets, including South Africa.

As digital platforms face growing scrutiny around user protection and misinformation, TikTok’s Q3 2025 report positions content moderation, automated AI enforcement and youth protection as central pillars of its strategy.

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