Sam Smith Gets Special Status From Tiktok, What Is It?

Sam Smith (Instagram @samsmith)

JAKARTA - TikTok provides special status to certain well-known accounts, where moderators in Europe are encouraged to be soft on the content they post.

Hibaq Farah and Dan Milmo journalists from The Guardian argue that social media platforms create a hierarchy of users, where certain individuals or groups are tagged internally which allows them to have more leeway.

"Specific seemingly important accounts have been tagged internally, which does not appear to appear on other accounts," they were quoted as saying by NME on Thursday.

Internal tags set to certain users and individuals point to higher status and include markers such as super account, super account super account, Top PGC, and top creator.

People like Russell Brand accused of rape, sexual violence and emotional harassment, despite strongly denying the claims Sam Smith, Manchester United, TV presenter Michael Barrymore, and YouTuber Ethan Payne were given internal tags. It was not clear whether these people knew the tags on their accounts.

The Guardian has been investigating TikTok amid ongoing concerns about how TikTok is moderating more than a billion of its users worldwide and seeing internal communications that are likely to raise new questions about how the app is being monitored, reports the news outlet.

According to internal communications seen by The Guardian, moderators have been notified to treat accounts that carry the tag more gently than other users.

The publication also reported that messages sent by an advisor to more than 70 moderators advised them to be more tolerant of top creators with something described as edge cases (edge cases).

While there is no explanation as to what the edge-up case' really is, the publication believes that the case refers to a video deemed to have violated TikTok's guidelines.

"I understand that if you consider a video as an unfavorable case, then you are urged not to apply the policy if it is a top content creator," a TikTok staff member told The Guardian.

So far, the social media has not released any official statement. However, a TikTok spokesperson confirmed the statement to the outlet that the allegations about TikTok policy were false.

"(This) is based on a misunderstanding," said a TikTok spokesman.