TikTok Reports EU User and Moderation Staff Numbers

TikTok has provided new insight into its European audience, as part of its latest EU disclosure reporting, which is required for its compliance with the EU’s new Digital Services Act (D.S.A.) .

Under the D.S.A., all large online platforms now need to provide regular updates on their active users in the EU region, along with various other key transparency updates.

Which provides some interesting notes on moderation, user growth and more. You can check out TikTok’s full disclosure report here, but in this post, we’ll take a look at some of the key notes.

First off, TikTok reports that it removed almost 13 million pieces of content between October and December last year, with “Sensitive & Mature Themes” being by far the biggest driver of removals.

That was the main reason in TikTok’s first EU transparency report as well, and it’s interesting to note the trends in TikTok’s reporting around removal decisions.

In terms of illegal content, TikTok saw the most user reports around “Financial Crime”, with “Privacy Relates Violations” and “Hate Speech” also generating a lot of user feedback. TikTok also reports that it banned over 3 million EU-based accounts in the reporting period.

In terms of moderation, TikTok reports having 6,287 people dedicated to the moderation of content in the European Union as of the end of December 2023. That’s up by an additional 162 moderators on its initial report.

But this element may be of most interest, in terms of general insight:

TikTok reports that it has 142 million users in the EU region, which is up on the 135.9 million it reported in October last year.

TikTok does note that the specifics of its calculations here could see some double counting, explaining that the user figures are for the purposes of complying with its D.S.A. requirements only, and “should not be relied on for other purposes.”

But as an indicator of TikTok’s overall usage growth, it is worthy of note. TikTok is growing in EU usage, though not rapidly.

Germany, France and Italy are its key EU nations, with over 20 million users in each. Also worth noting that, with 170 million TikTok users in the U.S., these two regions make up around a third of its estimated one billion active users.

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-based notes could help you to better target your promotions.

You can read TikTok’s full D.S.A. disclosure update here.