Engaging closely with academia, civil society to enrich platform: TikTok

PTI, Feb 10, 2020, 5:10 PM IST

New Delhi: TikTok on Monday said it is working with academia and civil society to enhance engagement, and enrich and empower the short-video platform.

TikTok, which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, said it is also harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to show relevant content to the users.

“We look at best practices, work with academia and civil society. And therefore, partners on the platform are very important…start looking at the platform to understand, enrich and empower ourselves,” Subi Chaturvedi, Head of TikTok for Good, said.

Stating that the company has taken down six million videos that were community reported, she further said, “It doesn’t just come from us, there are responsible citizens and we are holding hands (with them).”

TikTok, which has 200 million users in India is extremely popular among youngsters in India. However, it has had its share of troubles in the Indian market.

Last year, the Madras High Court had directed the Centre to ban TikTok app, saying it was evident from media reports that pornography and inappropriate content were made available through such mobile apps. The order was later lifted and the app was back on app stores.

Later, the Indian government issued notices to TikTok (and group company, Helo) along with a set of 24 questions regarding alleged misuse of their platforms for “anti-national activities” in India. The company had responded to the notice.

Chaturvedi, on Monday, cited examples of how TikTok had partnered with various educational institutes, including B-schools to deliver short-format content on its platform, and was also working with different government organisations like Uttarakhand and Kerala Police.

The platform is also harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to show relevant content, she said at a panel discussion on ‘Safer Internet Day.’

MyGov CEO Abhishek Singh spoke of the various initiatives being undertaken by the government to ensure cybersecurity.

He said almost 600 government officials have been trained on cybersecurity, and there is a plan for training another 1,200 officials.

“For building capacities with regard to police officers for investigating cybercrimes, whether it is online fraud or online harassment all these cases, we have come up with a partnership with National Law University in Bhopal for an online PG Diploma in cyber forensics where the objective is in next two years we will be training 1,000 police officers across the country and giving them the necessary skills…,” he said.