Governing sexism on TikTok: ambiguities and tensions in community guidelines and corporate communication

While social media platforms increasingly present themselves as spaces for empowerment and diversity, they also reinforce gendered power relations through their governance practices. This study examines how TikTok’s U.S. community guidelines and newsroom articles between 2018 and 2022 address and govern sexism over time. Using a comparative approach, we analyze the relationship between platform governance and communication, drawing on Foucauldian and Butlerian concepts. Our analysis shows how references to sexism and related topics increase over time in both data sets, while remaining implicit, depoliticized and ambiguous. Although corporate communication frequently refers to the guidelines, a tension emerges between incoherent guidelines and progressive narratives. Despite the growing visibility of sexism-related issues, TikTok perpetuates the obfuscation and even reinforces sexism on the platform through ambiguities and inconsistencies within and between its guidelines and communication. We argue that TikTok functions as a societal institution that regulates and shapes gender discourse. The study highlights the formation of power structures, identity, and norms in digital spaces, deepening the understanding of technology’s role in society.