TLDR
TikTok says it has labelled more than 3 billion videos as AI-generated, and has launched a Brand Safety Center, a Brand Protection Playbook and an AI Safety Essentials guide to reassure advertisers. Its head of brand safety told advertisers to 'hold us accountable', and said some brands are too cautious about labelling their own AI content.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What TikTok launched
TikTok has launched a Brand Safety Center for advertisers, alongside a Brand Protection Playbook and a guide called AI Safety Essentials, developed with independent consultancy Responsible Marketing Advisory. It announced them at its Asia-Pacific Responsible Media Forum in Singapore.[1]
The centre brings together the controls advertisers already set in Ads Manager, including the Inventory Filter, which lets brands choose how cautious their placements are, and category exclusions.[3] Brand-safety firms DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science and Zefr provide independent verification, and TikTok labels both branded content and AI-generated content.[1]
3 billion AI videos
The scale of AI content is why. "We've labelled over 3 billion videos as AIGC using a combination of Content Credentials, creator labelling tools and our invisible watermarking technology," said Francis Stones, TikTok's global head of brand safety.[2] More than 37 million creators used TikTok's AI labelling tool in the first months after it was released, and the platform is testing a slider that lets users control how much AI content they see.[1]
Stones said advertisers may be "overly conservative" about labelling their own organic posts. "If AI has changed the context of the content you're watching, label it as AI. If you're just changing the colour of this sweater from blue to green, unless you're selling the sweater, it doesn't change the context," he said.[1]
TikTok also reported removing more than 30 million videos across 10 Asia-Pacific markets between April and June, about 0.3% of all videos published there.[2]
'Hold us accountable'
"The first question I got when I took this job six years ago was 'Do you have brand safety controls?' At that time, we didn't," Stones told B&T. He asked advertisers to keep pushing the platform: "Tell us when you think we're doing it wrong... Don't be afraid to tell us because we'll look to improve."[1]
For Australian advertisers the pitch lands as platforms face tighter rules here, including the ban on under-16s holding social media accounts and the proposed Digital Duty of Care, which B&T noted would bring more scrutiny of how platforms serve content.[1]
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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James Dore is founder and editor of Prompt the Market and Strategy Director at Bushnote, a Sydney strategy, SEO and AI search agency. He has a background in strategy, media and financial services, and led consumer product marketing at MONEYME. He writes on AI search, answer engines, technology policy and media economics.
