TikTok announced on Wednesday that it removed four million “violative” videos in the European Union (EU) in September, marking its first transparency report since the EU implemented a new law against illegal and harmful content across the bloc.

The Chinese-owned video-sharing platform, popular among younger online users, emphasized that it has 6,125 employees responsible for content moderation in the EU, covering all national languages.

These figures were disclosed as part of TikTok’s obligation under the EU’s new Digital Services Act (DSA), which mandates major online platforms to provide transparency reports every six months.

Previously, TikTok did not release monthly removal data for the EU as a whole, making the significance of the September figure unclear until future reports are compared.

The DSA, which came into effect in August, threatens very large online platforms and search engines with fines of up to six percent of their global turnover for violations.

TikTok and 18 other platforms fall into this category for heightened EU scrutiny, as they have at least 45 million monthly users in the EU. Other platforms include Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Alphabet’s YouTube and Google Search, X (formerly known as Twitter), Microsoft’s Bing search engine and LinkedIn, Apple’s AppStore, Alibaba’s AliExpress, and Wikipedia.

Last week, the European Commission initiated investigations into TikTok and Meta, requesting more details on the measures they have taken to combat the spread of “illegal content and disinformation” following the Hamas attack on Israel.

TikTok reported having 134 million users in the European Union as of September 2023.

The platform stated that it is “proud” of its efforts to date but acknowledges that there is still work to be done.

TikTok proactively searches for content considered illegal or harmful under its policies, primarily using automated systems and human review when necessary. The platform removed seven times more violative content proactively than that removed following user reports.

The company has introduced an in-app channel for users to report suspected illegal content in accordance with its DSA obligations.

When TikTok receives removal requests from EU authorities, it reviews the content based on its policies and national and EU laws. In September, TikTok received 17 removal requests from EU governments.

The platform also received 452 requests from EU governments for user and account information, which it evaluated on a case-by-case basis to respect users’ privacy and other rights.

TikTok reported a median time of 13 hours for taking action on flagged videos, noting the necessity to consider legal obligations and issues like freedom of expression, which can take time.