Boost in Content Moderation Workforce
TikTok has increased its content moderation team in the European Union to 6,354 individuals in the first half of this year, up from 6,287 in the previous quarter. This growth reflects the company’s commitment to improving content oversight across its platform, as stated in its latest Digital Services Act (DSA) transparency report.
Missing Local Language Experts
Despite expanding its moderation team, the platform lacks dedicated moderators for Maltese and Irish languages. TikTok previously claimed to cover at least one official language from all 27 EU member states, but this report highlights the discrepancy. This absence raises questions about the platform’s language capabilities and cultural understanding in these regions.
Limited Resources for Lesser-Spoken Languages
The report indicates that several lesser-spoken EU languages still receive minimal attention. For instance, TikTok has only six moderators for Estonian, eight for Croatian (including Serbian duties), and just ten each for Latvian and Lithuanian. These limited resources demonstrate the challenges faced in adequately moderating content across diverse linguistic communities.
Changes in Major Languages
Conversely, TikTok has a large pool of moderators for English, with 1,498 currently, down from 2,334 in the prior period. French moderators have also decreased to 634 from 650, while German has seen a drop to 597 from 837. This shift in numbers suggests a strategic realignment within TikTok’s moderation workforce.
Increase in Non-Language Specific Moderators
The number of non-language-specific moderators—those who oversee profiles and photos—has seen a significant increase, now standing at 1,508, compared to just 413 the previous year. This change indicates TikTok’s efforts to bolster its overall content review capabilities beyond language-specific tasks.
Automation at the Core of Moderation
TikTok utilizes automated systems as the primary method for content moderation. If potential violations are detected, human moderators can provide feedback to enhance machine learning tools and offer contextual understanding. This dual approach aims to improve the platform’s accuracy in handling diverse content types effectively.
Focus on Localized Issues
The report underlines that many challenges TikTok faces on its platform are localized and require extensive cultural knowledge and contextual awareness. Addressing these issues effectively demands a nuanced understanding of regional languages and norms, which the current moderation setup may be lacking, particularly for underrepresented languages.
Ongoing Investigations and Transparency
This is TikTok’s third DSA report after the European Commission identified it as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) last August, alongside others like Facebook and Amazon. The platform, which boasts over a billion users globally, including 150 million in the EU, is under investigation by the EU executive for several issues, including the protection of minors and advertising transparency, highlighting the critical need for robust content moderation practices to ensure user safety.
SOURCE: Ref Image from Tech Crunch
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