CAIRO, Egypt — TikTok has intensified its regional safety offensive, removing more than 17.4 million videos across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) during the third quarter of 2025. The figures, released in the platform’s latest Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, underscore a major shift toward AI-driven proactive moderation.
According to the report, TikTok achieved a record-breaking 99.3% proactive removal rate globally, meaning the vast majority of violative content was identified and scrubbed before a single user could report it. Automated technologies now handle 91% of all takedowns, allowing human moderators to focus on complex tasks such as appeals and high-stakes regional events.
Regional breakdown: Iraq and Saudi Arabia lead takedowns
The enforcement data provides a granular look at TikTok’s efforts across six key regional markets:
| Country | Videos Removed | Proactive Rate | Removed < 24 Hours |
| Iraq | 7,441,506 | 99.6% | 96.1% |
| Saudi Arabia | 3,861,844 | 99.2% | 96.7% |
| Egypt | 3,024,039 | 99.6% | 95.8% |
| Lebanon | 1,257,406 | 99.7% | 95.3% |
| UAE | 1,032,534 | 99.0% | 94.9% |
| Morocco | 792,737 | 99.3% | 95.6% |
Protecting minors and purging “Under-13” accounts
A central pillar of the Q3 report is the protection of younger audiences. Globally, TikTok removed over 22 million accounts suspected of belonging to users under the age of 13. This aggressive age-gate enforcement is part of a broader strategy to ensure the platform remains age-appropriate for its burgeoning youth demographic in the MENA region.
A hard line on liVE content
Live streaming remains a high-priority enforcement area. During the three-month period, TikTok suspended over 32 million LIVE sessions globally. In the MENA region specifically:
- Iraq saw the highest disruption with 1.29 million livestreams interrupted and nearly 300,000 hosts banned.
- Egypt followed with over 834,000 interrupted streams and nearly 200,000 host bans.
- Even in smaller markets like Lebanon, the platform maintained high vigilance, disrupting over 77,000 streams.
Beyond safety, the platform is also policing its “LIVE Monetization” features. Over 2.1 million sessions were demonetized or issued warnings globally to ensure that creators are rewarded only for safe, authentic, and high-quality content.
Accuracy and the Right to Appeal
While the reliance on automation has scaled rapidly, TikTok emphasizes its commitment to fairness. In Iraq, over 259,000 videos were restored following successful user appeals—the highest in the region—followed by Saudi Arabia (195,711) and Egypt (150,197).
The platform maintains that this “hybrid model,” which pairs cutting-edge AI with human oversight, is essential for balancing rapid enforcement with the protection of creative expression.
