You might know TikTok for its fun and entertaining short videos - in the UAE and around the world, it has inspired a lot of creativity and brought joy to many people.
By empowering users to showcase their authentic selves, TikTok has attracted a diverse audience and developed an inclusive community. At the end of the day, TikTok cares about bringing some positivity back to people’s lives. This belief system, coupled with TikTok's understanding of local cultural nuances, trends and values, has contributed to the short video platform being awarded the platinum media partnership at this year's World Tolerance Summit.
TikTok and World Tolerance Summit 2019
Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the International Institute for Tolerance in Dubai (IIT), part of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, organised the second edition of World Tolerance Summit with the theme “Tolerance in Multiculturism: Achieving the Social, Economic and Humane Benefits of a Tolerant World”, which was held on 13th-14th November 2019 with the participation of distinguished speakers and specialists.
In partnership with the event, TikTok launched the hashtags #Toleranceforall or #التسامح_للجميع which have garnered over 20 million video views and spread the message of tolerance far and wide in our region.
TikTok – Tolerant and Safe
To encourage an inclusive and tolerant atmosphere, promoting a safe and positive app environment is TikTok's top priority and they have a whole suite of safety features so content creators can express their creativity while being respectful of others.
First up is Screen Time Management. TikTok offers users and parents the opportunity to select limits for the amount of time spent on the app. Users can choose between 40, 60, 90 and 120 minutes to spend on the app. The feature is password protected too, so if you want to continue using the app beyond the set limit, you would need to know the password. A great feature for parents since the minimum age requirement on TikTok is 13 years of age.
The second feature is Restricted Mode. the mode allows users to limit the content that will be visible to them.
Next up are Comment Filters. This tool will allow users to better manage the comments on their posts by deeming keywords undesirable. Users can filter almost any keyword they want, blocking comments about race, religion, gender, politics and more. Comments containing the restricted words will be automatically filtered for the user.
Last but definitely not least are Privacy Controls. There are numerous privacy-based settings on the app which enable creators to control who sees and even shares their content. Not only can users make their entire accounts private, they can even do it for individual videos. Other privacy settings allow much more control such as deciding who follows then, who can send them messages, react to videos, download their content and so much more!
TikTok also comes with in-app reporting that allows users to notify them of any objectionable content or behavior for the app to action upon in real-time. Additionally, the TikTok team has a moderation team who works around the clock to deal with inappropriate content.
TikTok and its Creators
We sat down with Leanne Everett, a content creator who has been on TikTok for approximately 3 months now. Here’s what she had to say about TikTok in the region "TikTok is funny and exciting, and people feel more real. There’s a sense of community and makes its feel like a family.” When asked about what she felt about tolerance and social media, Everett replied “For me the word ‘tolerance’ is very important. It reminds me of compassion and bringing people together, both of which are very important in this day and age. TikTok partnering the World Tolerance Summit is an extremely important step in this process”.
TikTok is one of the fastest growing apps globally right now and is available on Google’s Android Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
