Social Rocket
TikTok's US operating company says it removed 2026 million fake accounts in the second quarter 14,6 and prevented the creation of another 64,8 million spam accounts. At the same time, 781,4 million inauthentic followers were removed and 403,2 million suspicious follow requests were blocked. The figures refer to US activity from 1 April to 30 June 2026, not to TikTok worldwide. For creator and marketing teams, the key question is how much of this is reflected in their reach and community metrics.
Four different numbers – four different processes
The TikTok USDS Joint Venture published its second report on platform safety and community guidelines on 20 October 2026. The figures on accounts and follow activity were compiled by Social Media Today based on the report.
The distinction is important: 14,6 million refers to fake accounts removed; 64,8 million stands for spam accounts already blocked at creation. 781,4 million are removed inauthentic follower relationships, not 781,4 million individual people or additional accounts. In addition, there are 403,2 million blocked fake follow requests. The four values therefore must not be added together into a supposed total number of fake users.
What is actually measurable for advertisers?
Fake followers can distort the perceived size of a creator community. Removing them may change follower counts and ratio metrics without any real audience being lost. For brand deals, follower count alone is therefore not enough: brands should consider reach per post, audience origin, video watch time, click and conversion data, and conspicuous growth spikes together. Even an engagement spike proves neither fraud nor quality without context.
The USDS figures do not provide a reliable fraud rate: among other things, suitable reference values for all visible accounts and followers are missing. Nor can it be concluded from higher removal numbers alone that spam has increased. Better detection, more attacks, or changes in enforcement could all play a role at the same time. For comparison, LinkedIn also acts against fake engagement and AI slop, but uses different categories and regional reporting obligations.
Influence networks are not just a follower problem
According to the USDS report, 30 covert influence networks were also disrupted in the quarter. The platform removed more than 76.000 accounts and 4,8 million related posts. This presumably concerns coordinated manipulation of discussions and public opinion and should be distinguished from usual advertising metrics.
With a view to the US midterms, TikTok had already presented its Election Mission Control Center and additional election safety measures. The latest reporting comes from the US organisation, which has been run independently since January. The US figures cannot simply be extrapolated to the German TikTok market.
Conclusions for German social teams
Before a creator collaboration, companies should check metrics across several points in time, document unusual follower movements, and separate paid reach from organic performance. When using external tools, access rights, labelling and platform rules should also be part of a binding review process. Our social media compliance checklist 2026 fits in here.
Conclusion: The report shows that TikTok detects and combats fake engagement on a very large scale. It proves neither that all fakes were discovered, nor that follower counts are fundamentally worthless. For brands, the demonstrable quality and impact of a community matters more than its mere size.
Sources: TikTok USDS: Q2 transparency report from 20 October, Social Media Today: data and analysis from 25 October, TikTok USDS: Q1 report from 30 July.