Sam Smith and Russell Brand reportedly given special TikTok status to allow more “leniency” when posting

nme.com:

TikTok has given special status to certain high-profile accounts, with moderators in Europe encouraged to be lenient with the content they post.Journalists Hibaq Farah and Dan Milmo from The Guardian have suggested that the social media platform created a “hierarchy of users, with certain individuals or groups assigned internal tags that allow them more leeway.

Certain seemingly important accounts have been given internal tags, which don’t seem to appear on other accounts.”Internal tags that are assigned to certain users and individuals point to a higher status and include markers such as “super account”, “super account super account”, “Top PGC” and “top creator”.People such as Russell Brand – who has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse, although strongly denied the claims – Sam Smith, Manchester United, TV presenter Michael Barrymore, and YouTuber Ethan Payne have been given the internal tags.

It is unclear if they are aware of the tags on their accounts.“The Guardian has been investigating TikTok amid ongoing concern about how it moderates its more than one billion users worldwide and has seen internal communications that are likely to raise fresh questions about how the app is policed,” reported the outlet. “According to the internal communications seen by The Guardian, moderators have been told to treat accounts that carry those tags more leniently than those of other users.”The publication also reported that a message sent by an adviser to over 70 moderators advised them to be “more lenient” to “top creators” with something that was described as “edge cases”.