Why Is My TikTok Video Under Review? Here's the Scoop

So you just created what you believe to be a compelling piece of content on your smartphone video camera. You're gearing up to plaster it all over your socials to help perpetuate your own personal brand and move yourself one step closer to social media fandom. 

You open up your TikTok application, select the video from your camera roll, and then hit upload. You wait for the clip to get posted into the web's ether but you're slapped with a message: Your video is under review. You curse the heavens and shake your fist at the sky demanding, "What is the meaning of this?!"

No, but really. What does it mean when your TikTok video is "under review"?

It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to know that a video being "under review" means that your clip is going to be delayed in uploading and that the content of said video needs to be reviewed. But why is that the case? 

Well, it is usually a good thing, and here's why: Typically, this happens to accounts that are very popular or users who have a history of publishing TikToks that get a lot of traction/views.

Because TikTok's user base skews so young, the app's developers are constantly ensuring that non-offensive, SFW (safe-for-work) content is being uploaded to the platform. Of course, they're not able to curb every single video that contains salacious material or messaging that violates its community guidelines, which could be why they take extra precautions with some more popular accounts.

But there's another reason that your video may be under review.

Let's say you don't have a ridiculously high follower count or aren't a super prominent TikToker but are still seeing that your video's "under review." It could be that some of your previous clips may have been reported on a few occasions, which could explain why the app is taking a little while before uploading your content to its video library.

That is until the "review period" is officially over. And it's not like there are throngs of people scouring TikTok's countless videos to ensure that the community's kept relatively safe. 

There's an A.I. algorithm that uses programming to check for items that look like firearms or excessive skin (for nudity) or any offensive words that are either stated out loud or put in the video's captions.

Sometimes a clip will stay "under review" if it gets too close to violating any of these guidelines, which you can find an entire list of by visiting TikTok's page of community guidelines.

You won't receive a special message or notification, but you will be told when you try to visit the video or upload it that it's under review. If a video you uploaded is currently being monitored, you'll notice that folks won't be allowed to comment on that piece of content nor will the follower or view count go up. Things should revert back to normal when TikTok deems everything is A-OK with it.

You also will not be able to share your video (obviously) or embed it anywhere for online use. Of course, it also won't show up on anyone's "For You" page either. As long as everything is kosher in your clip, however, these review periods are usually over in about 48 hours.

• Adult-themed or sexually explicit content
• Gratuitous violence
• Spam
• Stealing another TikTok user's video
• Community rules violation

While one may argue that a lot of popular creators have either uploaded content like this in the past, TikTok reserves the right to remove/delete any video clips it sees fit. So you're at the mercy of the app, but as long as you're not doing one of those five aforementioned things, you should be good.

But you just know that there's probably someone out there who's trying, right now, to upload a TikTok video that basically accomplishes all of these things in a single clip. How long do you think it'll take the A.I. to figure it out?