TikTok scrambles to remove suicide clips

LONDON — TikTok says it’s working to remove videos of a man apparently taking his own life even as it is banning users that keep trying to spread the clips on the popular social media platform.

It’s the latest example of the ongoing struggle by big tech companies to police their platforms for harmful content amid increasing pressure from regulators.

The video was originally livestreamed on Facebook before being circulated on other platforms, the company said.

News reports say the video has been circulating on TikTok since Sunday and shows a man shooting himself.

“Our systems, together with our moderation teams, have been detecting and blocking these clips for violating our policies against content that displays, praises, glorifies, or promotes suicide,” TikTok said in a statement.

“We are banning accounts that repeatedly try to upload clips,” the company said, adding it appreciated users who reported the content.

Facebook said it removed the original video last month on the day it was streamed and has “used automation technology to remove copies and uploads since that time.”

TikTok urged people who were struggling with thoughts of suicide or concerned about someone who is to seek support.

This comes days after Facebook on

Saturday blocked live broadcasts from a chronically ill bed-ridden man who who wanted to show what he expects will be a painful end to his life and had appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron for a medically assisted death.

Separately on Tuesday, TikTok signed on to the European Union’s Code of Conduct aimed at preventing and countering illegal hate speech online, officials said.

The EU launched the code in 2016, but the problem has only grown since then, with social media companies accused of amplifying divisions, hate and misinformation on their platforms.

Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube were the first to sign on to the code when it launched, and Instagram, SnapChat and Dailymotion join last year.