TikTok is banning politicians and governments from campaign fundraising on its platform, and using any of its other monetisation tools, as social media apps face pressure to tackle political misinformation ahead of the US midterm elections.
In a blog post on Wednesday, the short-form video app said it would start trialling “mandatory verification” for all accounts belonging to US politicians, political parties and government groups until the end of the midterms in November.
The company, which is owned by the China-based ByteDance, already bans political advertising on the platform, including paid political influencer videos. However, it said that it would now also prohibit politicians and political accounts from soliciting donations or receiving gifts via the platform, and from using its ecommerce capabilities, for example to sell merchandise.