Who doesn’t love a good or funny TikTok video? I sure do. I’m constantly on TikTok looking for videos that’ll give me a chuckle or teach me how to cook something new. Unfortunately, not all videos are appropriate for TikTok and can be offensive or disturbing.
This happened to me the other day and it was a video that I really needed to report. This lead me to question whether or not TikTok reports were anonymous and if it was safe for me to report.
TikTok reports are anonymous. The poster of the video will not know that you’re the person who reported them. When you report a video and it’s deemed to be a violation, they will simply get a message that says the video they have posted has been removed for violating the Community Guidelines of TikTok.
Now that you know you can anonymously report a video on TikTok, you may be wondering how to go about reporting certain things you see. In this article, I’ll go over how to report hashtags, comments, videos, and more.
Is It Anonymous When You Report A Video On TikTok?
According to TikTok, it’s completely anonymous when you report a video or anything else on TikTok. Nobody will be able to see who reported them. If their video has been considered a violation of TikTok’s Community Guidelines, they will automatically remove the video and remind the user to follow those guidelines.
If TikTok doesn’t find the video to be any sort of violation, the app will notify you and let you know it decided not to remove the video. You will then be given the option to report the video again or block the account.
Before you report anything on TikTok, it’s important to make sure it actually violates something within their Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. If it’s something you just don’t like that isn’t in violation, they won’t remove the video. If you scroll through the Community Guidelines and don’t see a category the video falls into, it’s likely it won’t be in violation of anything.
If you don’t like what a user is posting and it doesn’t fall within the Community Guideline violations, then you should simply block them. This way, anything they post won’t show up on your page.
What Happens When You Report A Video On TikTok?
When you report a video on TikTok, they will either take it down or let you know they decided to leave it up because it wasn’t in violation of Community Guidelines.
If you feel like you need to report something, here’s how to do it:
- Select the Share button at the bottom-right corner of the screen
- Click on Report and choose why it shouldn’t be on the platform
- Click Submit once you’ve completed the report
- You should get a response within 48 hours
When you do this, TikTok will put the video under review. Depending on how many times the account has been reported, it may decide to temporarily suspend the user from posting or commenting while their video is being reviewed.
If TikTok doesn’t think the video is in violation of their Community Guidelines, they’ll let you know. You then have to option to report it again. If it has been found to be in violation of the guidelines, it will be removed and the user will get a strike against their account. If they receive too make strikes, TikTok will suspend their account.
There’s no set number of reports the video needs before it’s removed. However, the more reports it gets from different users, the more likely it is to be removed from the platform. Additionally, strikes against a creator’s account will affect their eligibility for the Creator Fund. If they receive too many strikes, they will no longer receive financial compensation for their videos.
Reporting A HashTag On TikTok
It’s not all that common, but some users will report a hashtag they see on TikTok. The hashtag will begin with a # and a few letters will follow it. This is a word that allows users to find videos. If the word seems inappropriate and violates the Community Guidelines, you can report it.
Report a hashtag by following these steps:
- Tap on the hashtag you want to report
- Click on Share
- Choose Report
- Write the report for TikTok to investigate
They will follow the same process they do for videos. If it’s in violation, they’ll remove the hashtag.
Reporting Comments
You can report a comment in two different ways depending on if you want to report one or multiple. Comments are little responses that people leave on your videos. I’ll admit, I’ve seen some very inappropriate and hurtful ones that certainly violated Community Guidelines. I chose to report them like this:
- To report one comment, long press the comment
- Click on Select
- Fill in the report
- To report multiple comments, long press the comment or tap the pencil in the upper-left corner
- Select Manage multiple comments (you can choose up to 100)
- Once you’ve made your selection, tap More
- Click on Report Comments
Report A User on TikTok
If you’re 100% positive a user has breached the Community Guidelines, you can report them. If they get enough reports from different users, their account(s) could be temporarily or even permanently suspended. Here’s how to report a user:
- Go to their Profile
- Tap on “…”
- Select Report
- Choose why you want to report the account
- Click on Submit
Reporting Someone On TikTok, Will They Know It Was You?
Unless you told them you were going to report them, they will not know it was you since the reporting process is completely anonymous.
No matter what the outcome is of the report, whether it results in a banned account or they deem it not to be a violation, the user won’t know you were the one who reported them.
However, if you’ve had constant issues with a certain user and they know you’re not happy with them, they may have an idea that you’re the one who reported them.
TikTok Report A Problem With Feedback
If you need to contact TikTok to report a problem with their feedback, you can do so on the app or use their TikTok form. You can also email them at [email protected]. If your issue is only regarding the app, you should report it there. If you don’t agree with a decision TikTok has made about a report, you can choose to appeal it.
How To Cancel A Report On TikTok
Once you’ve submitted a report, you can’t remove it. You will have to wait until it has been reviewed and until it’s been reviewed, their video may be restricted. There have been times when I’ve made a report and had a change of heart or decided that the video really wasn’t in violation of their Community Guidelines.
I wanted to cancel the report, but unfortunately couldn’t. This is why TikTok urges those who want to make a report to thoroughly read through Community Guidelines.
There are various categories into which the video could fall. If the video, hashtag, or comment doesn’t fall within one of them, it’s not violating the guidelines.
What Happens If You File A False Report on TikTok?
If you’ve gone ahead and reported a handful of videos on somebody’s account due to anger or you simply wanted to see their account disappear, it’s likely nothing will happen to you or your account. The only thing that happens is that you waste TikTok’s time and hurt creators.
Even though TikTok doesn’t suspend accounts known for false reports, they will not take your reports seriously if you’ve been known to file false ones. This could create an issue for you if you see a video that really does violate the Community Guidelines because now that you’ve cried wolf, TikTok is less likely to come to your aid when really needed.
This is why you want to make sure all of the reports you submit are real and effective. You should only report somebody if they’re clearly breaking the rules by posting content that’s inappropriate, violent, or disturbing in any way. Don’t report something just because you disagree with it, such as a political video.
Conclusion
Now that you know reports are completely anonymous, you can press that submit button. Nobody but TikTok will know you’re the one who did it. You won’t be suspended or banned due to reporting something that wasn’t in violation of their Community Standards.
However, it’s a good practice to not falsely report somebody just because you don’t agree with what they’ve been posting. This will only hurt the creator and waste TikTok’s time when they could be reviewing content that’s actually not okay to be on the platform.
