Social-Media
TikTok is launching a new in-app 2020 election guide
Tuesday, TikTok plans to introduce an in-app guide to the 2020 US election as part of its ongoing efforts to defend the site from misinformation.
The guide is being rolled out to users in the U.S. today and is available on the TikTok Discover page or landing pages for some election-related search results. It will be available in English, Spanish and dozens of additional languages, according to TikTok, and will provide users with information on federal, state and local candidates driven by BallotReady, the voting information app. TikTok will also connect the guide at the bottom of the election-related videos posted from the checked political accounts.
On TikTok, we see how people, particularly younger voters, are passionate about important issues and ready to make their voices heard, said Alex Niemczewski, CEO of BallotReady, in a statement on Tuesday.
We're partnering with TikTok for their election guide, because younger voters sometimes don't know what's going to appear on their ballot, and we believe that TikTok will help them vote their entire ballot.
The guide will also include guidance on how to vote, with details from the National Association of Secretaries of State, and additional media literacy and misconceptions on voting education. TikTok can also use the guide to provide voting services for people with disabilities, people voting abroad, students, and information for people with past convictions.
Our election guide is structured with user privacy in mind, so users must visit the state or non-profit website for anything that includes sharing their information, including voter registration, said Michael Beckerman, vice president of TikTok and head of U.S. public policy, in a blog post on Tuesday.
The interactions with this guide in our app have no impact on future TikTok experiences, such as suggestions or advertisements.
Over the last few months, the conspiratorial contents of the coronavirus pandemic and the QAnon conspiracy theory have littered the site. Earlier this summer, in response, TikTok moved to block QAnon hashtags. In August, TikTok forbade and enforced additional content-moderation measures to curb misinformation ahead of the election.
