Law Enforcement Data Request Guidelines

Sharing & Disclosure · Restriction or exception

Videos, comments and direct messages are content data that generally need a court order or warrant

Content data includes video content, comments and the content of direct messages. TikTok says a request that does not meet the applicable legal requirements will not lead to disclosure, and that this is in particular the case for content data, which "generally" requires a domestic court or judicial order, a warrant or an equivalent. The words "generally" and "domestic" are not explained.

Supporting quotations

Video content

Comments

Direct message content

This is in particular the case for requests relating to content data (which generally require a domestic court / judicial order, warrant or equivalent).

Qualifications & exceptions

• Content data "generally" requires a court or judicial order, warrant or equivalent; the exceptions are not stated.
• The order is described as "domestic".

Not stated here

• What "domestic" refers to (the requester's country, the TikTok entity's country or another) is not stated.
• Cases in which content data could be disclosed without such an order are not described in this section.

Cross-references

• qualifies (model-proposed): A request must name the data type and legal basis or the data will not be disclosed — The content data sentence adds a stricter, data-type-specific condition (generally a domestic court or judicial order, warrant or equivalent) to the general rule that requests must meet the applicable legal requirements.

Sharing & Disclosure · Permission or license

In an emergency TikTok may provide user data it judges necessary to prevent imminent harm

TikTok says it has processes for emergency requests, evaluated case by case. If the information received is enough, in TikTok's assessment, to establish a good faith belief that there is an emergency involving imminent harm or the risk of death or serious physical injury to a person, it may provide the user data necessary to prevent that harm, as permitted by applicable law. This is a "may": TikTok is not committed to disclose in every emergency, and the test is TikTok's own assessment.

Supporting quotations

TikTok has processes in place to handle emergency requests. Such requests are evaluated on a case-by-case basis:

if as part of an emergency request we receive information that is sufficient in our assessment to establish a good faith belief that there is an emergency involving imminent harm or the risk of death or serious physical injury to a person, we may provide user data necessary to prevent that harm, as permitted by applicable law.

Qualifications & exceptions

• Case-by-case; disclosure only if the information is sufficient "in our assessment".
• Limited to data "necessary to prevent that harm" and "as permitted by applicable law".

Not stated here

• Which data types can be disclosed in an emergency is not listed.
• Whether the user is notified is addressed only by the Section 4 rules.

Cross-references

• referred to by (model-proposed): TikTok may disclose user data without a formal legal request in an emergency — The FAQ emergency case corresponds in subject to the Guidelines' emergency requests section, but cites it as "Section 5" while the supplied text numbers emergency requests as Section 6 and preservation requests as Section 5. The mismatch is quoted and left unresolved.

Sharing & Disclosure · Permission or license

TikTok may disclose user data without a formal legal request in an emergency

The FAQ says TikTok may disclose user data without receiving a formal legal request based on valid legal process in listed cases. The first is emergency circumstances: where TikTok is satisfied there is an emergency involving imminent harm or risk of death or serious physical injury to a person, it may provide user data necessary to prevent that harm, as permitted by applicable law. The FAQ says this is "explained in Section 5" of the Guidelines. In the supplied text Section 5 is "Preservation requests", and emergency requests are in Section 6, so the citation does not match the numbering; the document does not say which section it intends, and this analysis does not correct it.

Supporting quotations

TikTok may disclose user data without receiving a formal legal request (based on valid legal process) in the following cases:

Emergency circumstances: As explained in Section 5 of our Law Enforcement Guidelines, where satisfied there is an emergency involving imminent harm or risk of death or serious physical injury to a person, we may provide user data necessary to prevent that harm, as permitted by applicable law.

Qualifications & exceptions

• "May provide"; disclosure is limited to data necessary to prevent the harm and "as permitted by applicable law".
• The FAQ test is "where satisfied", while the Guidelines state a good faith belief that is sufficient in TikTok's assessment.

Not stated here

• Which Guidelines section the FAQ intends by "Section 5" is not stated; Section 5 in the supplied text covers preservation requests and Section 6 covers emergency requests.
• Which data types may be disclosed in an emergency is not listed.

Cross-references

• refers to (model-proposed): In an emergency TikTok may provide user data it judges necessary to prevent imminent harm — The FAQ emergency case corresponds in subject to the Guidelines' emergency requests section, but cites it as "Section 5" while the supplied text numbers emergency requests as Section 6 and preservation requests as Section 5. The mismatch is quoted and left unresolved.

Sharing & Disclosure · Company practice

In limited circumstances TikTok reports certain user data to authorities or designated bodies on its own

The second case where TikTok may disclose without a formal request is "proactive reports". In limited circumstances, including where TikTok is subject to legal obligations, it reports certain user data to law enforcement authorities or designated bodies. Examples given are reporting suspected child exploitation to the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) for child safeguarding, and reporting suspicious financial transactions to relevant authorities. Law enforcement who later ask for more data after such a Cybertip report must still meet the Guidelines' requirements.

Supporting quotations

Proactive reports obligations: In limited circumstances, including where TikTok is subject to legal obligations, TikTok reports certain user data either to law enforcement authorities or to designated bodies. Examples include reporting suspected child exploitation to the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (“NCMEC”) for child safeguarding purposes and reporting suspicious financial transactions to relevant authorities.

What do I do if I receive a Cybertip report made by TikTok to NCMEC?

If law enforcement has received a Cybertip report made by TikTok to NCMEC, and is now requesting further user data in connection with an investigation, the request must meet the requirements set out in our

Qualifications & exceptions

• Only "in limited circumstances"; "including where TikTok is subject to legal obligations" shows legal duty is one case, not the only one.
• The examples are illustrative ("Examples include").

Not stated here

• Which user data is reported, and the full set of circumstances, is not stated.
• Which "designated bodies" besides NCMEC receive reports is not stated.