May 1, 2023
To: Lisa Heyes, Senior Director, Tech Policy and Senior Council
Emir Gelen, Director, Public Policy, Middle East, Türkiye, Africa, Pakistan, South Asia
Re: TikTok's efforts in preparation for the upcoming election in Turkey
Dear Ms. Hayes and Mr. Gelen,
We hope you’re well. We are writing from Human Rights Watch and ARTICLE 19 to inquire about TikTok’s operations related to the 2023 Turkish elections.
We anticipate releasing our new publication about Turkey’s online environment in the run-up to the elections, including efforts by social media platforms and messaging apps, like TikTok, to prepare for the elections.
In the interest of thorough and objective reporting, we want to give you the opportunity to respond to the following questions by 5 p.m. EST on May 4, 2023 so that we can incorporate TikTok’s response and perspectives.
- Has TikTok shared comprehensive plans or issued a detailed report or statement on its efforts to prepare for Turkey’s election, beyond the updates in its April 12, 2023 Newsroom post?
- Did TikTok conduct a human rights impact assessment ahead of the elections? If so, we would like to request a copy of this assessment or, in the alternative, a summary of its substantive findings.
- How many TikTok staff and contractors are allocated to the Türkiye Election Tracking Center? When was the Center created and how long will it be in place? How can individuals and organizations in Turkey get in touch with the Center to raise concerns on TikTok around the elections?
- Generally, how many content moderators work on Turkey? How many are native in Turkish and other languages spoken widely by minorities in Turkey (please provide a break down based on individual languages)? How many human rights policy experts are supporting TikTok users in Turkey? How does TikTok ensure the political independence of staff and contractors working on Turkey?
- How will TikTok respond to threats of throttling and other sanctions introduced by the most recent legislative changes when responding to content takedown and user data access requests? Does TikTok have a contingency plan in the event of throttling during the election period?
- Does TikTok have in place plans to address the potential of multiple and conflicting announcements of the outcome of the vote and allegations of fraud? Will it label claims of early victory to indicate that the outcome of the vote is not official, in addition to reducing the visibility of such content?
- Is TikTok in touch with independent election monitoring groups like Oy ve Otesi (Vote and Beyond)?
- Is TikTok taking any specific additional steps to identify deceptive account behavior or fake engagement during this election period?
Thanks in advance for your attention to our questions and feel free to provide any other information you deem relevant.
Sincerely,
Barbora Bukovská, Senior Director for Law and Policy, ARTICLE 19
Frederike Kaltheuner, Director for Technology and Human Rights, Human Rights Watch
