A Full TikTok Ban: How Many Violations Does It Take?

If someone gets caught littering or jaywalking, they’ll probably get off with a warning or a small fine. If someone is arrested by the police for murder, though, they’ll face much more serious penalties. Each suspect has only committed one offense, but the difference between those offenses is obvious.

That tortured analogy may help explain why there’s no hard-and-fast rule about the number of violations that trigger a complete TikTok account ban. Some actions that violate TikTok’s terms and conditions are much worse than others.

There is an internal rule regarding bans on TikTok users. Accumulating 24 “violation points” within a three-month period can lead to a temporary or permanent ban. However, there’s no fixed number of violation points associated with any type of misdeed on the social media platform. Moderators have a lot of leeway to determine the seriousness of the violation.

Let’s learn more.

TikTok’s Enforcement System

TikTok is way too big (2+ billion users at last count) for it to immediately recognize content or actions that break the app’s rules. Enforcement usually follows a report or complaint from a TikTok user. Moderators then investigate and institute penalties or even full account bans, if appropriate.

They use a system of warnings and strikes to enforce their decisions. Most first offenses result in a warning unless the issue is very serious; the user’s content is taken down and receives notice of the warning in their TikTok notifications.

Subsequent violations receive a “strike,” also communicated to the user through a notification. When their account hits a certain threshold, it will either be penalized or banned. What makes things difficult from a user’s perspective, though, is that the thresholds aren’t publicly revealed; someone’s only notified when they’re close to being banned.

And since the same type of violation can result in different numbers of violation points depending on the severity of the infraction, there’s no way people can definitively track where they stand. The best approach is to not commit any infractions, of course, but the notification system provides the only clue that users may be in danger of being kicked off of TikTok.

In short, TikTok doesn’t have a “three strikes and you’re out” system of enforcement. You could be banned after one strike, three strikes, or ten strikes, depending on what you’ve done. You can appeal penalties and bans through the link in the notification you receive — but you’d better have an ironclad reason for reinstatement.

How Does TikTok Penalize Accounts?

Not every violator has their account banned. Less-severe penalties can be instituted.

• Shadowbans: Visibility for your TikTok videos is dramatically reduced, and you won’t be notified that you’ve been shadowbanned. If you behave yourself, the penalty is usually lifted in a week or two.
• Live Streaming Bans: These are usually implemented for inappropriate actions during a TikTok Live session. The ban usually goes away, but how long it lasts depends on the severity of the violation.
• Temporary Account Ban: This is a strong warning that you’re in trouble. You’ll receive a notification telling you about the action, and you won’t be able to post or interact with other users’ TikTok content. Temporary bans generally last between three days and two weeks.
• Permanent Ban: When you try to log onto TikTok, you’ll see a banner notification that you’ve been banned, why the action has been taken, and how to appeal. If the appeal is unsuccessful, your account is dead.

Not all minor violations result in these penalties. If you get a warning or a strike notification, that usually means you have time to clean up your act before you get hit with more serious problems.

What Might Lead to a TikTok Ban?

This isn’t an all-inclusive list, but these are major categories of offenses that violate TikTok’s terms and will get you into trouble.

• Problematic content: Nudity and sex are forbidden in TikTok content, as are some sexually-suggestive language and activities, as well as violent ones. Undefined “inappropriate” content can also be flagged.
• Content theft: You’re not allowed to use someone else’s videos, music, or other content elements without permission. You can’t impersonate another user, either.
• Bullying, or promoting violence and hate: These could require a subjective decision by moderators, but it’s better to be respectful and avoid trouble.
• Promoting drugs or sexual abuse (child sexual abuse content is even more serious), defrauding users, and spamming: No serious elaboration is needed here; these activities are forbidden on the app.

Most users who receive warnings, strikes, or penalties have violated rules regarding inappropriate content, and those types of issues generally won’t damage their TikTok presence. Breaking the other rules, though, is often the fast track to a complete TikTok ban.