what a gross company https://t.co/pfluHofkOm

— Casey Johnston (@caseyjohnston) March 16, 2020

TikTok will stop using China-based moderators to monitor overseas content and shift that work outside China—the latest effort by owner Bytedance to distance itself from U.S. concerns about Beijing's influence. Scoop by @Kubota_Yoko @raffaelehuang @ByShanLihttps://t.co/3gAGNeiVai

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) March 16, 2020

NEW: Leaked internal TikTok documents show the company suppressed videos from “ugly,” disabled, overweight, and poor people for the express purpose of retaining new users and growing the app https://t.co/7lsTr0y0QW pic.twitter.com/w7J4LR8QHA

— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) March 16, 2020

Meanwhile: TikTok to stop monitoring content with China-based moderators. More than 100 employees in “Trust and Safety” team in China will be transitioned into new posts; some could leave firm m, sources say. w/ ⁦@raffaelehuang⁩ ⁦@ByShanLi⁩ https://t.co/7o44k5RFRH

— Yoko Kubota (@Kubota_Yoko) March 16, 2020

this is a really great story that's also illustrative of what happens when tech platforms take over the entertainment industry https://t.co/BJUuBxPBDl

— Max Read (@max_read) March 16, 2020

Assuming there’s latent demand for an app with a bias toward ugly, poor people and fervent political speech. Somebody make it and cash out. https://t.co/b8Fysa37CO

— Sam Earle (@Smearle_RH) March 16, 2020

Man, wait until they find out about the rest of the entertainment industry https://t.co/24nYGXyVAN

— Charles Bramesco (@intothecrevasse) March 16, 2020

Chinese video-sharing app TikTok's "secret" rules used behind the scenes to censor "political expression" & enable "censorship of large swaths of the world’s population based on genetics, economics, and arbitrary decency standards" leaked to @TheIntercept: https://t.co/xFTKyl8Qmf pic.twitter.com/3Oj3NsZS6G

— Anna Massoglia (@annalecta) March 16, 2020

It’s insane that they weren’t doing this a year ago already. https://t.co/wgNNkwKZBi

— Elliott Zaagman (@ElliottZaagman) March 15, 2020

TikTok moderators were explicitly told to suppress uploads from users with flaws both congenital and inevitable. “Abnormal body shape,” “ugly facial looks,” dwarfism, and “obvious beer belly,” “too many wrinkles,” “eye disorders,” and many other “low quality” traits https://t.co/uauMiXmb2z

— Rose Troup Buchanan (@rose_catb) March 16, 2020

the first time I tried tiktok's six months ago I was like "why is every post from white, blond mormon kids with GINORMOUS kitchen islands and basements?!" and now I'm frankly glad to hear it was purposely skewed that way https://t.co/5TpxjtWL6x

— Matt Haughey (@mathowie) March 16, 2020

“Abnormal body shape,” “ugly facial looks,” dwarfism, and “obvious beer belly,” “too many wrinkles,” “eye disorders,” and many other “low quality” traits are all enough to keep uploads out of the algorithmic fire hose.' @samfbiddle @manifesteiro @tatikmd https://t.co/h5tSJd43MF

— Cindy Gallop (@cindygallop) March 16, 2020

hey so TikTok is trash even if you don't care about data privacy: "[TikTok] instructed moderators to suppress posts created by users deemed too ugly, poor, or disabled for the platform...[as it could] decrease the short-term new user retention rate" https://t.co/4zPinK2yt6

— jenny (phire) zhang (@phirephoenix) March 16, 2020

it’s almost impressive how awful this is in so many different ways https://t.co/T5jjIlNtLa pic.twitter.com/7eV0qxW24s

— Sarah McLaughlin (@sarahemclaugh) March 16, 2020

Leaked documents reveal the China-based social media company has policies censoring various forms of political speech, and instructed moderators to suppress posts by “ugly” people and the poor to attract new users. https://t.co/n8w3SsTVIY

— The Intercept (@theintercept) March 16, 2020

Social media apps focused on beauty & popularity are bad for humanity and especially young people part 1 million https://t.co/uEWNCksrMW

— Joshua Topolsky (@joshuatopolsky) March 16, 2020

In leaked documents, TikTok told moderators to suppress posts by “ugly” people and the poor to attract new users @samfbiddle @manifesteiro @tatikmd report https://t.co/RDWVGbtXH0

— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) March 16, 2020

"TikTok moderators were explicitly told to suppress uploads from users with flaws both congenital and inevitable: “Abnormal body shape,” “ugly facial looks,” dwarfism, and “obvious beer belly,” “too many wrinkles,” “eye disorders"https://t.co/gjBTwBh14c

— Kerry Flynn ? (@kerrymflynn) March 16, 2020

This new story reveals the extent of @tiktok_us censorship policies, raising questions about how the app has been used to stifle free expression during the Hong Kong protests.https://t.co/UEE6hwWKfN

— Hong Kong Watch (@hk_watch) March 16, 2020

I was wondering why my posts weren’t appearing . . . https://t.co/xsnFW1Gxw5

— Mike Davis (@mrddmia) March 16, 2020

TikTok Told Moderators: Suppress Posts by the “Ugly” and Poor https://t.co/DyytRy1yJJ

— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) March 16, 2020

TikTok says the policies are not enforced atm, and that these 'ugly' ones were to stop bullying, but The Intercept's documents don't mention bullying, only the justification to help user base growth https://t.co/AUv306TJdI

— Joseph Cox (@josephfcox) March 16, 2020

TikTok is working on excluding “ugly”, “poor”, “disabled” users from the spotlighthttps://t.co/SyC4k2fAmS

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 16, 2020

Poor or ugly? TikTok doesn’t want you on the for you page https://t.co/y0xlIxAxeJ pic.twitter.com/UWFmKo8pH2

— Matthew Panzarino (@panzer) March 16, 2020

In leaked documents, TikTok told moderators to suppress posts by “ugly” people and the poor to attract new users https://t.co/Fvew38E7yG by @samfbiddle, @manifesteiro, @tatikmd

— Lee Fang (@lhfang) March 16, 2020

“TikTok has influenced content on its platform not just by censoring videos and disappearing users, but by padding feeds with content from ‘shadow accounts’ operated by company employees posing as regular users.” https://t.co/DyytRy1yJJ

— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) March 16, 2020

TikTok guidelines said not to promote posts by "ugly" and poor users https://t.co/793moRLAts pic.twitter.com/XQsg7ikrXr

— The Verge (@verge) March 16, 2020

Also if the video was taken in "slums, rural fields, dilapidated housing, construction sites, etc." In houses, to exclude those with "crack on the wall, old and disreputable decorations, extremely dirty and messy)" https://t.co/Qd6kykOsIj

— Rachel Cohen (@rmc031) March 16, 2020

leaked documents showed TikTok moderators were instructed to suppress videos featuring people with "Ugly facial looks (not limited to: disformatted face, fangs, lack of front teeth, senior people with too many wrinkles, obvious facial scars)" https://t.co/Qd6kykOsIj

— Rachel Cohen (@rmc031) March 16, 2020

TikTok은 중재자에게 '못생긴'가난한 사용자의 게시물을 표시하지 않도록 지시했습니다. https://t.co/X4yPzz3Wxo
• 하나는 라이브 스트림에서 이념적으로 바람직하지 않은 콘텐츠에 대한 금지를 제시하고, 다른 하나는 매력적이지 않고 빈곤한 사용자를 위한 알고리즘적 처벌을 설명합니다.

— editoy (@editoy) March 17, 2020

⬆️ evidence that social media are not neutral platforms (+ regulation follows)
? Should news orgs still use #TikTok knowing they're handing over editorial independence?
?Great material for journalism educators teaching gatekeeping (who gets on TV etc)https://t.co/ibBhnqNtmv

— Paul Bradshaw (@paulbradshaw) March 17, 2020

For decades, we assumed capitalism and liberal democracy were not just complimentary but mutually necessary.

The Chinese have shown otherwise. https://t.co/ib6wH5UNCh

— Antonio García Martínez (@antoniogm) March 16, 2020

This makes me more sick than any virus ever couldhttps://t.co/sw5ylSdLjo

— MrDodo (@mrdodo_yt) March 17, 2020

TikTok guidelines said not to promote posts by "ugly" and poor users https://t.co/fA5hJGSHBR pic.twitter.com/ZXgTAdyP48

— The Verge (@verge) March 17, 2020

This explains why my TikTok never took off: Leaked Documents Show TikTok Tried to Suppress ‘Ugly’ Users https://t.co/Lpi54JEHBc

— Hikosaemon (@hikosaemon) March 17, 2020

"Taken at face value, TikTok is using bigotry to game user growth, attempting to manicure the content it surfaces to be maximally aspirational..." https://t.co/J5Fjr06Jbg

— One Ring (doorbell) to surveil them all... (@hypervisible) March 16, 2020