2026 Elections: TikTok Removed 45,000 Videos and an Influence Operation from Iran

TikTok removed 45,311 videos between June and September 2026 that violated its election integrity, misinformation, and misleading AI-generated content policies. The company reported thwarting an influence network from Iran consisting of five accounts and an Israeli network of 306 accounts. The data was transferred to the Central Elections Committee.

TikTok published a quarterly transparency report showing that between June 7 and September 5, 2026, the platform removed 45,311 videos in Israel that violated its policies on election integrity, misinformation, and misleading content created using artificial intelligence. More than 99.7% of the videos were removed before user reports, and they constituted 9% of all videos removed in Israel during this period. Additionally, the company removed 1,431 accounts that impersonated election candidates and elected officials. The report details two covert influence operations that were thwarted: a network of five accounts that TikTok assessed was operated from Iran and aimed to influence audiences in Israel and the United States by creating fictitious identities to promote pro-Iranian narratives; and another network of 306 accounts that the company assessed was operated from Israel and targeted an Israeli audience, creating inauthentic accounts to amplify political messages. The data was transferred to the Central Elections Committee.