TikTok blames suspension of pro-life group's account on 'human error'

Unsplash/Kon Karampelas

The social media platform TikTok has said that the suspension of a pro-life group's account was "human error".

Lila Rose, the founder of Live Action, said that her organisation's page had been banned for "violating" the app's community guidelines.

The suspension was imposed after the non-profit posted a 15-second video showing the faces of babies and sharing the personal stories of some Live Action supporters who had chosen to go through with their pregnancies, Rose said.

TikTok is especially popular with young people and has over 800 million active users.

After Live Action appealed the ban, TikTok got in touch to say that the suspension had been lifted.

"We received an email from TikTok ... apologizing for what TikTok is calling 'human error.' They admitted that our account 'is not in violation of any of our Community Guidelines,'" said Rose.

A TikTok spokesperson told The Wrap: "TikTok is a platform for creative expression that welcomes diversity of users and viewpoints.

"Following a review, we have determined that there were no violations of our community guidelines and the issue was the result of a human error by a moderator. We apologize for the mistake and have reactivated the account."

Rose called on TikTok to improve training and oversight of moderators "to ensure that such dramatic 'human errors' like this aren't made in the future for us or any other pro-life organization".

She claimed that it was only after Live Action "escalated the problem" that the account was finally reinstated.

"Not every pro-life American has the reach that Live Action has to sound the alarm on censorship and viewpoint discrimination," she said.

"What we saw today is the power of social media, the pro-life movement, and news outlets in doing their job to report pro-life viewpoint discrimination."