In the second half of 2019 ; TikTok says it removed around 49 million videos out of which over 16 million were Indian

• TikTok released a transparency report which indicates that it removed over 49 million videos in the second half of 2019.
• Of the total videos that were removed, over 16 million were from India followed by the US.
• TikTok received 45 government takedown requests, most of which were from India.

TikTok released its transparency report for the second half of 2019, which is from July to December. The report says that the app took down more than 49 million videos all over the world. These videos comprise less than 1 per cent of all the videos that the users created and were removed for violating community guidelines or terms of service.

Of the total videos removed, over 16 million videos were from India followed by the US from where over 4 million videos were removed.

TikTok said it received 1300 copyright removal requests and 45 government takedown requests, most of which were from India. It also said that it did not comply with all the requests. Where legal requests to take down content is concerned, India topped the list here as well followed by the US.

Over 21.5 per cent of the videos that were taken down contained illegal activities and over 15 per cent of the removed videos violated self-harm and dangerous acts policy. Other categories for video takedowns included violent and graphic content policy, harassment and bullying policy and hate speech, integrity and authenticity, and dangerous individuals and organizations.

As per the report, TikTok did not receive any takedown requests from the Chinese government where its parent company ByteDance is based. A TikTok spokesperson told The Verge that TikTok has not removed any content at the request of the Chinese government, and would not do so if asked. The spokesperson also said that the company does not share any data with the Chinese government.

TikTok has been criticised in the past for not taking down content from Indian users who posted content that portrayed abuse, domestic violence, and harassment. TikTok’s Play Store rating severely fell back in May due to virtual war with YouTubers followed by an abusive video portraying acid attack on the platform. The internet raged with hashtags to ban TikTok.