TikTok Moves to Limit Russian and Chinese Media’s Reach in Big Election Year

TikTok said on Thursday that it was introducing new measures to limit the spread of videos from state-affiliated media accounts, including Russian and Chinese outlets, as the company deflects criticism that it could be used as a propaganda tool in a major election year.

The company in 2022 started labeling state-affiliated media accounts — like those from RT, the global Russian television network, and People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. It said it would no longer allow videos from such accounts into users’ main feeds if they “attempt to reach communities outside their home country on current global events and affairs.”

TikTok also said the accounts would not be permitted to advertise on TikTok outside their home countries, to further reduce their reach.

Social media platforms, including Meta, YouTube and X, are grappling with misinformation in a year when as much as half the global population will vote in major elections. Political news on TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance, is under particular scrutiny after the passage of a law that would force ByteDance to sell the company or face a ban in the United States. Lawmakers and intelligence officials have said TikTok is a threat to national security, partly because of how the Chinese government could use it to spread propaganda.

TikTok, which is suing the federal government over the law, has vehemently pushed back on such concerns.

But fears about the presidential election in the United States helped build support for the new law. Officials like Lisa Monaco, the U.S. deputy attorney general, met with individual lawmakers before the bill was introduced, saying TikTok could be used to disrupt U.S. elections.