TikTok is updating its Community Guidelines to stress that commercial content must be disclosed and that it will reduce the visibility of content that directs users to “purchase products off-platform in markets where TikTok Shop is available.”
You heard that correctly: TikTok is openly prioritizing content that drives traffic to products on its TikTok Shop, as opposed to third-party websites or marketplaces. Makes sense, right? Honestly the transparency is welcoming.
Other updates to its Community Guidelines include:
- Language warning creators that they're responsible for anything that happens on their live sessions, even if it involves third-party tools like real-time translation or voice-to-text tools to read out viewers' comments, advising creators to monitor those tools to make sure they're not violating the platform's rules.
- TikTok will begin customizing users' search results. A previous version of the guidelines said TikTok provided “search suggestions” that were relevant to the user, but now it's saying that both “search results and recommendations may look different for everyone” — indicating that the entire page of results will be different, not just the one suggested results box at the top.
- The updated guidelines also reveal that comments are personalized too, sorted based on signals like past replies, likes, and reports.
- The section on AI content changed slightly with more ambiguous language around describing what sort of deepfake content is not allowed. Now it simply says that TikTok doesn't allow content that “that's misleading about matters of public importance or harmful to individuals.”
The big takeaway from the changes? If you're currently driving TikTok traffic to products on your website or Amazon, you may want to jump on the TikTok Shop bandwagon sooner than later, or risk having your content deprioritized in their algorithm.
