It can cause a gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of your stomach.
You see that you have a new notification in your TikTok Inbox, and you figure it’s probably a DM from a friend or a notice that you have a new TikTok follower.
It’s not. Instead, it’s a stark black, red, and white message from the social media platform, with an exclamation point at the top and a boldfaced heading that says “Account warning.”
What’s going on? And what can you do about it? Read on.
All About TikTok Content Warnings
Most TikTok users don’t bother to read them, but they agree to adhere to Community Guidelines and TikTok’s terms and conditions when they sign up for an account. The rules aren’t surprising; you can’t post explicit sexual content or nudity, you can’t bully, spam, or impersonate other users, you can’t promote illegal activities or hate speech, and so on.
Every TikTok post goes through an automated moderation system in which the TikTok algorithms look for violations of the app’s rules. If there’s nothing troubling in the TikTok video or description, the post goes live quickly. Otherwise, it’s sent to human moderators, who look at the TikTok content and decide whether to clear it or remove it.
A minor violation may result in what’s called a “shadowban,” which reduces visibility for the user’s content for 3-14 days (depending on how bad the violation was). No notices are sent to users who are shadowbanned.
If an offense is egregious, moderators have the power to immediately ban the TikTok account responsible for the post. In most cases, however, the account owner receives a notification that their video has been taken down, with general details about why their content was removed. And they’re warned that their account is at risk of being restricted because of a content violation.
The platform has never made its detailed moderation policies public, but it’s believed that users are allowed two warning “strikes” before their third “strike” triggers a penalty (usually the loss of some app features), an account suspension (which may last several weeks), or a complete ban (permanent loss of the account).
It’s not always a 1-2-3 system, though. For example, if a misstep is worse than a minor rules violation but not quite worthy of an immediate ban, the user may receive two strikes for a single post that breaks the rules. Their next strike would lead to a ban — but they don’t know that until it’s too late.
Here’s the moral of the story. TikTok is serious about enforcing its standards, so any content warning received from the platform should be taken very seriously.
How To Get Rid of an Account Warning on TikTok
We’ll start with a warning: it’s not easy.
If this is the first time you’ve received the dreaded notification in your Inbox, and you clearly just made a mistake in posting something you shouldn’t have, it’s probably best to take a TikTok warning for what it’s worth: just a warning.
Read through the app’s Community Guidelines and terms and conditions to fully understand what is and isn’t acceptable on the app. It’s probably also a good idea to check other TikTok videos you’ve uploaded in the last few months, to make sure you haven’t made another inadvertent mistake.
Be heartened, too, by the fact that strikes go away after three months. If you don’t commit other violations in the 90 days following your account warning, your slate will be clean.
You think that TikTok’s action was unfair? You can appeal. There will be a link to the appeal form in the notification you receive; you can also submit your appeal via the “Support” link in the “Settings and privacy” area of your TikTok profile. Include a full explanation of why you think the warning wasn’t justified, and include as much supporting documentation as possible.
The bad news is that appeals can take a while to be resolved, and most are denied. The good news: if you keep your nose clean, your account will be back in good standing in 90 days. And if you’re feeling paranoid after reading this article, visit Settings and privacy > Support > Safety Center > Account status, and you can check to see if you currently have any strikes on file.
Stay safe out there!
About the Author
Peter Hasselworth is a contributor at iDigic, sharing valuable insights about Instagram growth and social media marketing strategies.