TikTok Storms Nigeria, Deletes 3.6 Million Videos Over Violations
TikTok has yanked over 3.6 million Nigerian videos off its platform in the first quarter of 2025 for breaching community guidelines, marking one of its most aggressive enforcement actions in the country yet.
The figure, revealed in its Q1 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, reflects a 50 per cent surge compared to the previous quarter, highlighting TikTok’s intensified crackdown on harmful or inappropriate content within Nigeria’s digital space.
Globally, the video-sharing giant removed over 211 million videos between January and March 2025. Of these, about 184 million were detected and flagged using automated systems, underlining the platform’s growing reliance on AI to identify and remove problematic posts. The report showed that 99 per cent of these removals were proactive, with 98.4 per cent taken down before users reported them, and 92.1 per cent deleted within 24 hours.
Live-stream content also came under heavy scrutiny. TikTok terminated more than 48,000 live videos and shut down over 42,000 live rooms in Nigeria for violating its rules. Additionally, the company disabled 129 accounts linked to covert influence operations originating from West Africa.
In a bid to promote online safety and mental well-being, TikTok introduced new in-app helplines for users facing issues related to suicide, self-harm, harassment, and hate speech. The company also announced a partnership with Cece Yara Foundation, a child-focused NGO in West Africa, and appointed Dr Olawale Ogunlana as its Digital Well-being Ambassador to support emotional health awareness campaigns.
With these actions, TikTok appears firmly committed to cleansing its platform and reshaping Nigeria’s online content environment.