TikTok Removes 18.9M Videos in MENA Q2 2025

TikTok removed 18.9 million videos across the MENA region between April and June 2025 for violating its community guidelines, according to the platform’s Q2 2025 transparency report released today. The video removal MENA Q2 2025 figures cover enforcement actions in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, UAE, Morocco, and Lebanon, representing TikTok’s largest quarterly content moderation sweep in the region to date.

Saudi Arabia accounted for 4.9 million of the removed videos, the second-highest country total in the region. Additionally, the platform scaled up enforcement on live content globally, stopping 36.7 million live sessions worldwide during the quarter—a 93% increase compared to Q1 2025.

Key Takeaways

TikTok removed 18,998,721 videos across six MENA countries in Q2 2025
Saudi Arabia saw 4.9M video removals with 99.3% proactive detection rate
Iraq recorded the highest removals at 8.3M videos
Platform interrupted nearly 3M livestreams and banned 1.3M live hosts in MENA
89.3% of violative content in Saudi Arabia removed within 24 hours

Saudi Arabia Video Removal Data

In Saudi Arabia, TikTok removed 4,911,695 videos during the second quarter of 2025 for violating its community guidelines, according to the company. The platform achieved a 99.3% proactive removal rate, meaning the vast majority of violative content was detected by automated systems before users reported it.

Furthermore, 89.3% of violative videos in the Kingdom were removed within 24 hours of posting. The company stated this reflects its “continued efforts to respond swiftly to emerging risks” on the platform.

Regional Enforcement Breakdown

Iraq recorded the highest number of video removals in MENA during Q2 2025, with 8,316,646 videos taken down—representing 43.8% of regional removals. The country maintained a 99.5% proactive removal rate, with 92.3% of content removed within 24 hours.

Egypt followed with 2.9 million video removals, achieving the region’s highest proactive detection rate at 99.6%. Meanwhile, Lebanon posted the fastest response time, with 97.5% of violative content removed within 24 hours.

The UAE and Morocco recorded 1,050,943 and 721,029 video removals respectively. Lebanon saw 1,064,802 videos removed during the quarter.

Live Content Moderation Intensifies

TikTok reported significant enforcement escalation on live streaming content across MENA. The platform banned 1,331,424 live hosts and interrupted 2,999,268 livestreams in the region for guideline violations during Q2 2025.

Egypt accounted for the highest live enforcement actions, with 524,168 host bans and 1,189,411 interrupted livestreams. Iraq followed with 589,637 host bans and 1.3 million livestream interruptions.

Globally, the company stated it introduced new monetization enforcement measures, taking action on 2.3 million live sessions and over 1 million creators for violating monetization guidelines, including warnings and demonetization penalties.

Appeals and Content Restoration

The platform’s appeals process resulted in 583,564 videos being restored across MENA after users successfully challenged moderation decisions. Iraq saw the highest restoration volume at 189,037 videos, followed by Saudi Arabia with 157,249 restored videos.

According to the data, the restoration rate represents approximately 3.1% of total video removals in the region, indicating the platform maintains moderation decisions in the vast majority of cases.

Platform Transparency Commitment

In a statement accompanying the report, TikTok said its enforcement approach combines “thousands of trust and safety professionals” with automated moderation systems. The company emphasized its focus on “safety, well-being, and integrity” while maintaining what it describes as “robust Community Guidelines.”

The platform has published quarterly transparency reports since 2019 as part of its content moderation disclosure practices. The full Q2 2025 report is available on TikTok’s transparency center website.