TikTok faces another test: its first U.S. election

TikTok, the video app originally known for teenagers' viral dance routines and prank videos, has increasingly become a destination for political content...

...with the hashtags Trump2020 and Biden2020 collectively racking up over 12 billion views on the app.

But as the November election is drawing closer, social media companies' responses to misinformation on their platforms are in the spotlight, and that includes TikTok – which is preparing for its first U.S. presidential contest.

Searching the app for the phrase 'mailinvote' returns suggestions including 'mailinvotingfraud,' a tag used on videos that either spread or debunk misinformation about voting.

While a search for the Democratic presidential candidate 'Biden' turned up suggestions such as 'bidentoucheskids'. Following questions from Reuters, a TikTok spokeswoman said it was no longer serving results on these misleading hashtags about Biden.

One reason why misinformation experts remain concerned about moderating Tiktok - is its many-layered videos, which can involve overlaid text and visual and sound effects.

But even as the platform grapples with U.S. election issues, the fate of the app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, remains uncertain.

President Trump: "It has to be 100 percent in terms of national security is concerned."

The Trump administration has yet to make a decision on a proposal from Bytedance that would make Oracle a technology provider for Tiktok and would allow the app to continue operating in the U.S.

President Trump: "No, I'm not prepared to sign off on anything. I have to see the deal."

In the first interview TikTok's head of U.S. safety Eric Han has given about the platform's approach to election misinformation, he told Reuters his team's goal is to ensure the app can stay a place for entertainment and "silly self-expression."