TikTok has shared its latest EU audience and staffing numbers, as part of its DSA disclosure reporting, which provides some interesting notes on moderation, user growth and more in the region
The latest report covers the period between January and June this year, making it TikTok’s first report that covers a full six-month period. TikTok has published two previous DSA reports, one covering a single month, and the other covering the three months ending last year.
As such, this latest update provides a more indicative account of TikTok’s performance, including active user counts in the region.
First off, TikTok reports that it removed almost 22.2 million pieces of content in the period, with “Sensitive & Mature Themes” being the biggest driver of removals.
As you can see in this listing, “Regulated Goods and Commercial Activities” was the second-biggest contributor to removals, followed by “Mental and Behavioral Health”. But “Sensitive & Mature Themes” was way ahead, beating the next closest category by more than 2 million removals in the period.
In terms of trends, TikTok actually removed less content in this period, based on averages.
As noted, TikTok’s last DSA report covered the period between October and December 2023, which is only three months, as opposed to this one, which covers a 6-month period. As such, the comparison is not direct, but when you average out the monthly removals, TikTok was removing 4.3 million pieces of content per month last year, and it’s removing 3.7 million per month now.
That might not say much about a change in approach, given increased usage of the app around Christmas. But it is a significant reduction in overall numbers, which could be an element to watch.
In terms of illegal content, TikTok saw the most user reports around “Illegal Hate Speech”, with “Privacy Violations” and “Sharing of Non Consensual Intimate Images” also high on the list. TikTok also reports that it banned over 5.3 million accounts in the reporting period.
In terms of moderation, TikTok reports having 6,354 people dedicated to the moderation of content in EU as of the end of June 2024. That’s an increase of 67 moderators on its last report, which itself included an increase of 162 moderators on its initial update. So TikTok’s adding more moderation staff over time, in order to cover more elements of concern in the app.
Finally, in terms of users, TikTok now has 150.5 million monthly active users in Europe.
That’s up by 8 million on its last report, so TikTok’s gaining users in the region. Not at a rapid rate (1.3m per month), but it is rising over time.
Germany, France, Italy and Spain are TikTok’s key EU nations, now with over 20 million users in each.
These are some interesting notes on TikTok’s EU operations, and its overall popularity in the region. And if you’re looking to reach European users, the region-specific notes could help you to better target your promotions.
You can read TikTok’s latest DSA disclosure update here.
