STATE COLLEGE–  We are less than two months away from the midterm elections and the popular video platform, TikTok, is setting its policies for politicians and political parties. Any and all politicians and political parties may not fund-raise on its platform.

This announcement was made in a blog post this past Wednesday. They were specific by also stating that political accounts would lose their access to advertising features and monetization services within the app. Along with this, TikTok will be closely monitoring if any politicians are asking for donations or directing viewers to donation pages.

Though TikTok claims it is for entertainment purposes for billions of monthly users, it also draws political content as well.  Since anyone can post on the app, the app can also become a hub for misinformation. In order to combat this, TikTok added an “Election Center” hub on the app with information about voting in over 45 languages.

TikTok will be testing the requirement that political accounts will be verified this Wednesday. TikTok is also working towards educating its users about their political policies in terms of sponsorships.

Interested in reading more? Check out the full article by Tiffany Hsu right here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/21/business/media/tiktok-ban-fund-raising-midterms.html