TikTok Changes Policies Which May Affect Crypto Influencers

A move by social media site TikTok may be forcing cryptocurrency influencers to consider moving to rival platforms.TikTok recently rolled out a system that automatically removes content that violates the platform’s community guidelines.

Cryptocurrency creators who say that they are trying to educate consumers say their content is getting censored and taken down for violating community guidelines on TikTok.

The company’s guidelines could prompt many creators to shift to Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

A TikTok user named theblockchainboy, whose real name is Lucas Dimos, may be kicked off the platform forever if he gets one more video removed.

In the last month, at least 10 of his videos have been taken down for promoting illegal activities and regulated goods. According to Dimos, he hasn’t done anything wrong.

“It’s left my account on such a razor’s edge,” said Dimos to CNBC. “We’re dying out here. We’re floundering. We’ve tried to build a community and guide this whole movement in the right direction.”

TikTok declined to comment on the reports from creators.

A company spokesperson pointed CNBC to the company’s community guidelines page. The spokesperson would not specify which guidelines crypto creators were violating.

“The real issue isn’t the advertisements,” said a cryptocurrency influencer who goes by Wendy O to CNBC. “It’s the fact that TikTok is shadow banning and censoring crypto content creators and a lot of us are posting great educational pieces.”

“It was almost like a knee-jerk reaction from TikTok against all of these scams that were going on,” said Dimos, who boasts over 314,000 followers on the platform. “While they may have blocked the scam posts, all of us creators are unable to post any of our content.”

Joshua Thillens, who goes by Joshua Jake on TikTok, has also said that he had at least eight videos taken down.

Nick Dye, who has over 14,400 followers on his account called the_cryptokeeper, has said, “No one knows what they can and can’t say. It discourages the newer creators like myself that have the knowledge and experience that they can offer. We’re scared to share things for fear of getting banned.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.