TikTok removes views from hashtags

In a step back for transparency, TikTok has quietly removed a data feature that was used by researchers to scrutinize the scale of user exposure to harmful content.

The now-disabled feature enabled anyone to search for a hashtag on the platform and see the total number of video views on posts associated with that hashtag. It was previously used by researchers to gain insights into the scale of views on harmful content, such as videos about eating disorders, antisemitism or dangerous drugs.

Now new analysis from CCDH shows that by disabling this feature, TikTok is obscuring the number of views on hashtags hosting harmful content about eating disorders.

Screenshots taken by CCDH of the pages for 21 separate eating disorder hashtags that are currently live on the platform show that they previously contained figures for the total number of views each hashtag had accrued. In contrast, screenshots from February 2024 of the same pages show that the data point is now missing.

TikTok data previously showed that tied to the 21 hashtags had a combined total of 11 billion views. It is now no longer possible to see the number of views being accrued by posts using the hashtags. As a result, researchers are unable to calculate how many times users continue to be exposed to the harmful content.

Disabling the data feature also makes it harder to understand the scale of potential harms on the platform. The same data feature has been used several times by researchers at CCDH in the past to study harmful content on the site. Examples include:

• In CCDH’s 2023 report, TikTok’s Toxic Trade, to show that hashtags with videos promoting potentially harmful steroids and similar drugs got 589 million views.
• In CCDH’s 2022 report, Deadly by Design, to show that a set of 56 hashtags live on the platform at the time of publication with pro-eating disorder videos got 13.2 billion views.
• In CCDH’s 2021 report, Failure to Protect, to show that hashtags used for antisemitic content had reached 25 million views.

It is not the first time that TikTok has restricted researchers’ access to data about the content being consumed on the platform.

The move comes shortly after the platform’s decision to restrict the amount of information available on its “Creative Center”, a tool that provides public information about the audience seeing posts tied to hashtags.

Certain features of the tool were recently cut back after it was used by critics to argue that the platform was failing to adequately moderate content. For example, the “search” button on the site appears to have been removed and links for certain hashtags have stopped working.

CCDH has also previously highlighted that, even before these features were cut back, TikTok’s Creative Center was withholding data about hashtags relating to important online harms. In April 2023, the Center 50 identified hashtags about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders for which TikTok provided no transparency data via the data insights platform.

Notes

• The hashtags included in this analysis, including screenshots taken in 2022 and 2024, can be found in the following spreadsheet:

TikTok Data Showing Removal of View-Counts, CCDH, 7 February 2024, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nJerswzCGLF6p8MjVEUAahNgj8zYxMfPjPgp20o_im4/edit?usp=sharing

• TikTok recently restricted the amount of information available on its “Creative Center”, a tool that provides public information about the audience behind posts tied to hashtags. After the tool was used by critics to argue that the platform was failing to adequately moderate content, certain features were cut back. For example, the “search” button on the site appears to have been removed and links for certain hashtags stopped working.

TikTok Quietly Curtails Data Tool Used by Critics, New York Times, 8 January 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/business/media/tiktok-data-tool-israel-hamas-war.html 

• CCDH has also previously highlighted that, even before these features were cut back, TikTok’s creative center was withholding data about hashtags relating to important online harms. In April 2023, the Center identified 50 hashtags about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders for which TikTok provided no transparency data via its data insights platform.

TikTok accused of failing to disclose scale of suicide videos, The Telegraph, 16 April 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/16/tiktok-accused-of-failing-to-disclose-scale-of-suicide-videos/ 

• CCDH’s 2023 report, TikTok’s Toxic Trade shows that hashtags with videos promoting potentially harmful steroids and similar drugs got 589 million views.

TikTok’s Toxic Trade, CCDH, 28 September 2023, https://counterhate.com/research/tiktoks-toxic-trade/ 

• CCDH’s 2022 report, Failure to Protect shows that hashtags used for antisemitic content had reached 25 million views.

Failure to Protect, CCDH, 30 July 2021, https://counterhate.com/research/failure-to-protect/ 

• CCDH’s 2022 report, Deadly by Design shows that hashtags with pro-eating disorder videos got 13.2 billion views.

Deadly by Design, CCDH, 15 December 2022, https://counterhate.com/research/deadly-by-design/