Reporting is a critical feature of TikTok that helps to keep the platform safe, and fun to use.
At the same time, TikTok is quite strict at ensuring their rules are followed or enforced.
Whether you’re worried that you’ve been reported or you’re planning to report someone else, you may be wondering – how many reports will it take for TikTok to remove the video or delete the account? Is there a certain number of reports that need to happen before your TikTok account is banned?
In this article, we’ll cover everything that you need to know!
How Many Reports Are Needed To Get A TikTok Account Banned?
There is no specific number of reports that will lead to a TikTok account getting banned. One report is enough for serious violations, where as hundreds of fake reports may do absolutely nothing.
Therefore, it really comes down to whether or not the user is actually breaking any of TikTok’s rules, and how severe the behavior is.
TikTok has a wide number of community guidelines that dictate what is allowed on their platform, and what isn’t. While breaking any of their community guidelines may result in video or account deletion, some are taken more seriously than others.
For example, committing a crime on TikTok is more likely to have severe consequences than buying likes for your videos, for example. Both of these are rule breaking behavior, but serious violations are more likely to result in drastic actions being taken – with significantly less reports required for TikTok to take notice.
It should be noted that TikTok pays attention to all reports it receives. This is why one report is enough to result in a ban, shadowban, or video deletion if a TikTok user is actually breaking the rules.
However, TikTok also knows that people file false reports as well – even for something as small as a minor disagreement. While we can’t be sure exactly how TikTok’s moderation process works, we theorize that TikTok reviews all videos that are reported at least once. If a human moderator watches the video and doesn’t see any rule breaking behavior, it’s possible that all future reports for that video have already been ignored – it has already been determined that it’s followed all of TikTok’s rules.
Will False Reports Get You Banned?
Let’s say you got into an argument with someone, and they claimed they reported you out of spite. Are you at risk of being banned, and do you even need to worry about it at all?
Fortunately, the answer is no. You can rest assured knowing that unless you actually broke TikTok’s rules, you won’t have to worry about any action being taken against your account. People are falsely reported all the time, and nothing happens to them.
In fact, it’s possible that TikTok automatically ignores reports from people who are known to abuse the reporting feature, filing false reports repeatedly. Note that TikTok reports are anonymous, so you can’t tell who reported you unless they specifically mention it.
Unfortunately however, if a video receives a large number of reports by a large number of people, it is possible it will be temporarily suppressed until a human moderator can review it. Due to the viral nature of TikTok’s algorithm and how quickly content can spread, they want to make sure people aren’t exposed to content that violates TikTok’s rules before they have a chance to review it.
However, after this process is completed the video will continue to be shared as normal.
Note that if videos get taken down by mistake, you can always file an appeal to have your video reviewed and reinstated.
Does Mass Reporting Someone Guarantee They’ll Be Banned?
If you can get a large group of people to all report one video, does this guarantee they’ll be banned on TikTok?
This behavior is commonly referred to as ‘brigading’ and isn’t particularly effective on TikTok.
Ultimately, reports are reviewed by a human moderator, who makes the final decision on whether or not a video will be taken down, and whether further action should be taken.
The one thing that mass reporting can do however is ensure the video gets looked at more quickly.
It is likely that TikTok has some sort of prioritization system in place for what order videos are reviewed in. Videos that are receiving lots of views quickly or are reported by a lot of people are likely put in front of a moderator faster.
As mentioned earlier, a large number of reports by many people may result in the video being temporarily taken down until this happens.
Of course, if the video doesn’t violate rules, it will be put back up – and may even receive a boost in viewership!
What Actually Happens When You Report Someone?
To fully understand why it can take so few reports to get someone banned (or why lots of reports may do nothing at all), it helps to have a full picture of how TikTok’s reporting system works, from beginning to end.
Believe it or not, the initial screening for rule breaking behavior starts before anyone ever sees the video! TikTok uses AI to automatically review all videos for content that breaks community guidelines. If their automated system believes that rules are being broken, they may automatically delete the video, or automatically suppress it, keeping it out of people’s For You pages. This is one reason why TikTok videos can get stuck at 0 views.
Most systems like this have a ‘confidence score’ to determine how confident they are in their decision. If a video barely passes their system, it’s possible it may be removed for review more quickly if reports come in.
Regardless, when a report is filed for a video or a profile, it is sent off to a queue for human moderators to view. Multiple reports from different accounts may push the video higher up in the queue.
Then, the human moderator will make a decision whether or not a video violates TikTok’s community guidelines. If it does, the appropriate punishment will be carried out.
Depending on the offense, this can result in the video being removed, a shadowban, a temporary ban, or even a permanent ban from TikTok across all of your accounts. If the video shows or encourages real-world laws to be broken, it’s possible that TikTok may also share relevant information with law enforcement.
For some offenses, TikTok users are able to appeal the decision, potentially getting their video or account reinstated.
For more information on the TikTok appeals process, click here.
Alternatively, you can always contact TikTok support to inquire.
Conclusion
If someone has actually broken one of TikTok’s rules, 1 report is enough to get them banned (or at least have the video taken down.)
However, no amount of false reports will force a video to be removed. In fact, it’s possible TikTok ignores every report that comes through after the video is reviewed.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any other questions about TikTok, please ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister