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TikTok's Updated Community Guidelines Are Banning "Overexercise" And "Misgendering" To "Prioritize Safety"

All social media platforms have become increasingly overbearing with censorship over the last few years. TikTok has recently taken their policing to the next level with their updated Community Guidelines, which are supposedly meant to keep people safe.

By Gina Florio1 min read
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On February 8, TikTok's Head of Trust and Safety released a letter announcing the company's newest Community Guidelines. "Transparency with our community is important to us, and these updates clarify or expand upon the types of behavior and content we will remove from our platform or make ineligible for recommendation in the For You feed," Cormac Keenan wrote.

TikTok Is Blocking Even More Content That "Promotes Eating Disorders"

TikTok, like all other social media platforms, already removes content that encourages eating disorders, but now they are taking it a step further and choosing to "remove the promotion of disordered eating." This nuanced change is apparently being achieved by working with "experts, researchers, and physicians."

"Our aim is to acknowledge more symptoms, such as overexercise or short-term fasting, that are frequently under-recognized signs of a potential problem," the letter said.

It's curious that the only examples they chose to highlight were "overexercise or short-term fasting," but there is no mention of unhealthy overeating or binge eating. Besides, what exactly constitutes as "overexercise"? And short-term fasting is mostly used as a health benefit, so will someone's content be removed even if they are using short-term fasting to heal their gut issues or inflammation?

"Our aim is to acknowledge more symptoms, such as overexercise or short-term fasting."

TikTok Is Also Prohibiting "Misgendering"

"This includes deadnaming, misgendering, or misogyny as well as content that supports or promotes conversion therapy programs," Keenan said.

Misgendering is a term that forces people to use pronouns that are not connected to the person's biological sex. If a user is a trans woman – a biological man – that means people can get kicked off TikTok for using his biological pronouns. Progress, indeed. And if you dare to call Caitlyn Jenner by his original name that we knew him as for decades, Bruce Jenner, you will be guilty of "deadnaming" and your content will thus be removed from TikTok.

TikTok has also added a new feature that allows people to display their pronouns, which they hope "will encourage respectful and inclusive dialogue on our platform."

As the Community Guidelines are continuously updated, social media users who do not prescribe to every pillar of leftist intersectional ideology are increasingly seeing themselves censored more and more. Soon enough we'll be kicked off these platforms forever.