TikTok claims to have deleted over 49 million videos that broke its rules between July and December 2019.
About a quarter of these videos have been deleted to contain nudity or sexual activity in adults, the company said in its latest transparency report.
The video-sharing app also revealed that it had received around 500 requests for data from governments and the police and complied with around 480.
The United States has suggested "examining" whether to ban the Chinese-owned app.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested that the download of TikTok would put "citizens' private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party".
He added that the US government was considering banning Chinese-owned apps: "We are taking it very seriously. We are definitely looking into it," he said in an interview with Fox News.
The Indian government has already banned the app, citing cyber security issues.
TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The app is not available in China, but ByteDance runs a similar app called Douyin which is available.
TikTok said it had received no government or police data requests from China or requests from the Chinese government to delete the content.
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal released a report suggesting that the company was thinking of creating a new location outside of China.
TikTok told the BBC in a statement: "While considering the best path to follow, ByteDance is considering changes to the corporate structure of its TikTok business. We remain fully committed to protecting the privacy and security of our users as we build a platform that inspires creativity and brings joy to hundreds of millions of people around the world. "
Privacy features
U.S. authorities are examining whether TikTok has complied with a 2019 agreement aimed at protecting the privacy of children under 13.
The app says it offers a limited app experience, with additional security and privacy features for children under 13.
According to TikTok's transparency report:
- 25.5% of the deleted videos contained nudity or adult sexual acts
- 24.8% have broken their child protection policies, such as implicating a child in a crime or containing harmful imitative behavior
- 21.5% showed illegal activities or "regulated goods"
- 3% were removed for harassment or bullying
- Less than 1% were removed for hate speech or "unauthentic behavior"
TikTok's transparency report also revealed:
- The 49 million videos deleted accounted for less than 1% of the videos uploaded between July and December 2019
- 98.2% of deleted videos were detected by machine learning or moderators before being reported by users
TikTok was released only in 2017 and, as it is so new, we know much less about the platform than Facebook, for example.
This report offers at least a little detail about the type of content being removed.
A lot of attention has been paid recently to hatred and extremism on platforms like TikTok, but fewer column inches on sexual content or child safety.
Yet about half of the videos taken fell into those two categories.
What we don't know, of course, is how much harmful content has been lost by its moderators and machines.