47 Days Before Elections! Chinese Communist Gov’t-Tied TikTok Tinkers with Political Accounts

Chinese Communist Party-tied TikTok is experimenting with its policies on political accounts just 47 days before the 2022 U.S. midterm elections.

Following recent revelations of Chinese employees having access to U.S. TikTok user data, the August creation of TikTok’s Election Center already raised concerns of foreign influence on the 2022 U.S. midterm elections. Now TikTok is targeting politically-affiliated accounts, less than two months before the elections on November 8.

A Sept. 21 TikTok press release noted that, while many politicians and political party accounts are already verified on the platform, the verification is optional. TikTok is now running a test that will make account verification mandatory for accounts belonging to governments, politicians and political parties through the November midterm elections. It’s unclear whether the test will apply to all or merely a portion of U.S.-based political accounts. These accounts will also now be automatically unable to access advertising and monetization features, according to the press release.