How TikTok distills its language to downplay its ties to China

Chinese social network. This is how TikTok usually presents itself. Internally, the teams are very aware of the feeling of mistrust that this association can cause. Your solution? Two documents that group the language elements to be distilled in the company’s communication to make the origin of the platform acceptable.

The specialized site Gizmodo has obtained a copy of these famous manuals. The first “TikTok Master Messaging”, which can be translated as “the communication domain of TikTok”, lists the priorities of the social network. The text first states that employees are required to “promote TikTok as a brand and platform.”

Examples of responses

So far, nothing out of the ordinary. But it is the following points that challenge. The Good Communicator’s Guide to TikTok continues with, in order: “downplay ByteDance’s parent company,” “downplay China partnership,” and “downplay artificial intelligence.”

This is nothing anecdotal. In late June, a US telecommunications police executive called on Apple and Google to ban TikTok from app stores. In the line of sight, the relationship between the company and the Chinese government. All in a context of obscure personal data management.

To achieve these crucial demonization goals, TikTok employees around the world are invited to dive into the second available book: “TikTok Key Messages,” or “the Key Messages of TikTok.”

Inside, employees have standard answers to help them during press interviews. Gizmodo claims that the quotes are found almost verbatim in some articles. But, above all, similarities with these linguistic elements of the Chinese social network are also found in a speech delivered by a company executive before the British parliament or in a letter addressed to US senators.

advance questions

Mainly intended for communication department executives, the documents teach how to avoid troubling questions or focus on simple facts. The links with ByteDance? “We are not authorized to speak about our parent company.” Proximity to the Chinese government? “TikTok is a global company with local management of its operations” are thus called to respond to employees.

With anticipatory questions, the app wants to limit risky responses. Especially in a sensitive point: the youth of its users. The document invites you to remember the age limit and even offers statistics about its users.

“The application is reserved for people over 13 years of age. Therefore, with respect to our users, we can speak of young people, but not of children”, blows the document. And to add: “Most of our users are between 16 and 25 years old. 67% of our users are over 25 years old”.

The two documents mentioned by Gizmodo are relatively recent. The first was created in March 2020 and was last updated in August 2021. The second, with sample responses, was created in February 2021.