Can You Take Back An Accidental Report On TikTok?

Social media platforms can’t enforce all of their rules anymore. The platforms are just too big.

For example, there are two billion TikTok users, and they upload 34 million posts every day. At least tens of thousands of employees would be needed to help the TikTok algorithms police them all.

That’s why the app depends on users to report videos or behavior that violate TikTok’s terms and conditions and Community Standards. They’re asked to report any TikTok account or user that uploads material that’s sexually explicit, offensive, promotes violence, or is otherwise inappropriate, as well as bullying, spamming, illegal activity, impersonation, or content theft.

Mistakes happen, though. What if you’ve had second thoughts about the penalties someone would face for actions or TikTok content that is in a “gray area,” or you’ve submitted a report to TikTok by accident and have realized the error too late?

Thankfully, there are a couple of ways to reverse a report you mistakenly sent to the app.

How to Unreport on TikTok

It’s important to realize that time is of the essence. Once a TikTok video or user has been flagged, they may quickly be put into the review queue (depending on the number of reports that have been submitted). Once it’s in the hands of TikTok moderators, it’s often too late to take back your report. Take these steps as quickly as possible once you realize you want to unreport.

One approach is simply to contact support by going to your TikTok profile, clicking on the menu (the three horizontal lines at the top-right corner), and choosing “Settings and privacy” from the popup menu that appears. Scroll down to “Support,” tap “Help center,” and follow the prompts to explain why you want to take back your report.

A better approach:

1. Go to your profile screen, open the menu popup, and choose “Settings and privacy.”
2. Tap “Activity Center” and then click on “Watch history.”
3. Look through the content grid and find the video that you’ve reported.
4. Tap on it to open it full-screen, and then click on the “Share” icon (the sweeping right arrow).
5. Look for the “Undo report” option on the bottom row, and tap it.

There’s no guarantee that an unreport will prevent the video from being deleted or the content creator from being penalized, since the review process may already be underway. If you’ve made a mistake in submitting the report, though, it’s worth doing all you can to undo your error.