Introduction

TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited (TikTok) strongly prohibits modern slavery, and we are committed to ensuring that it is not taking place within our operations or in our supply chain.

TikTok has a responsibility to respect human rights. We believe respecting human rights is essential for TikTok to build and sustain trust among our employees, creators, advertisers, users and others who engage with our company. As part of our commitment, we strive to respect human rights throughout our business and our supply chain.

About TikTok

TikTok is an entertainment platform and a destination for short-form mobile video. TikTok is committed to promoting a safe and welcoming environment that enables everyone to express their creativity, share content they love and connect with diverse communities.

Our People and Culture

The prevention, detection and reporting of modern slavery in every part of our organisation or supply chain is the responsibility of all those working for us or on our behalf.

Our Code of Conduct must be observed by all regular employees, senior management and directors. We also require our extended workforce (such as independent contractors and third party associates) to comply with the Code of Conduct. This Code:

• prohibits child labour, forced or involuntary labour and human trafficking within our organisation or supply chain.
• commits to providing a workplace free from unlawful discrimination or harassment.
• refers to our Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Management programme and states we take appropriate measures to provide a safe and healthy workplace.

Our Code of Conduct addresses a number of additional areas, including equal employment opportunities, anti-corruption, anti-bribery and corporate social responsibility, which support our commitment to the prevention of modern slavery.

Our Code of Conduct lays strong emphasis on creating a Speak Up culture. Our Global Speak Up Policy and Speak Up hotline together provide a platform for employees and business partners, who suspect or become aware of modern slavery in our business or supply chains, to report it to our Ethics and Compliance teams. The Policy prohibits retaliation against anyone that reports an issue or participates in an investigation, and our Speak Up hotline is regularly reviewed for enhancements.

Our Speak Up culture is communicated to our employees in various ways. For example, mandatory training on the Speak Up hotline occurs at employee onboarding. Further training and awareness campaigns, such as Speak Up Awareness Sessions, occur on a continuing basis for employees to refresh their knowledge about the Speak Up hotline.

We ask all our employees to be respectful, to act with integrity and to ensure our workplace is a safe place to work. We also have a Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy that outlines our expectations for how employees should engage with and treat one another. In addition, our recruitment processes are reviewed regularly. Our Global Recruitment Procedure sets out the key steps of our recruitment and selection process and the standards of conduct which all staff must follow. We recognise that we will only be able to achieve TikTok's mission to inspire creativity and bring joy by recruiting a skilled, dedicated and inclusive workforce. We are committed to acquiring our talent in an equitable, efficient and consistent manner.

Our commitment to providing employees with a healthy, safe and environmentally friendly workplace is further realised through the implementation of our EHS Management programme. This programme includes risk assessments, regular audits and inspections. The EHS team regularly monitors legal requirements and industry best practices, providing all of our operations with continuous advice and guidance on health and safety aspects.

Our Supply Chain and Business Partners

TikTok purchases many different types of goods and services from a wide range of suppliers and service providers. These include the purchase of IT hardware and software and telephony; building and facilities services in relation to our offices; various consultancy services including in relation to our branding, marketing, and communications; and professional advice services (including legal and financial).

TikTok requires business partners, including suppliers and service providers, to agree to the Business Partner Code of Conduct. The Business Partner Code of Conduct sets standards and responsibilities for each business partner in the areas of ethics, integrity, human rights, labour, environment, health and safety and fair business practices. Suppliers annually receive training on ethics and compliance that reinforces the importance of adhering to the Business Partner Code of Conduct.

Specifically in relation to modern slavery and human trafficking, our Business Partner Code of Conduct states that our business partners must:

• not use child labour.
• only use voluntary labour and must not engage in any form of modern slavery or human trafficking, or use any type of forced, bonded, involuntary or prison labour.
• commit to treating employees with dignity and respect.
• commit to a workplace free of any form of discrimination or harassment.
• recognise and respect the rights of employees to freely and voluntarily establish and join unions or associations of their choice (without consequence).
• ensure working hours don't exceed legally-mandated maximums.
• ensure that staff are paid at least a minimum wage, be paid overtime and receive benefits, each as required by local laws.

We want to develop and maintain business relationships with business partners who are committed to upholding the principles of integrity and compliance within their own business operations.

We require assurances from our suppliers in our standard services agreements that they have not committed any modern slavery offences, and that they aren't aware of any investigations or prosecutions within their own supply chains. We also include a contractual requirement for suppliers to comply with the Business Partner Code of Conduct. We will seek appropriate legal remedies from business partners who are in violation of our Business Partner Code of Conduct.

In addition, our suppliers are required to notify us immediately if they (or anyone within their own supply chain) have infringed any modern slavery laws. Concerns or violations relating to this Code can be raised confidentially via the Speak Up hotline at ethics@bytedance.com, without the fear of retaliation. We conduct Supplier Communication Sessions where the Speak Up process is explained to suppliers. We ensure that the reported concerns and violations are addressed in a timely manner and in an appropriate way.

The TikTok platform in the United Kingdom includes a TikTok Shop feature, an e-commerce marketplace that connects sellers, creators, partners and customers. TikTok is dedicated to building and promoting a safe and trustworthy e-commerce environment and providing a positive experience to sellers and consumers in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. The TikTok Shop Business Partner Code of Conduct was developed in 2023 and builds on our Business Partner Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct sets forth the company’s ethical standards and explicitly prohibits the use of child labour, forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking.

Our Community

We take the responsibility of keeping our community safe seriously. For example, we maintain a set of Community Guidelines that include rules and standards for using TikTok. We remove any content found to violate our Community Guidelines on human exploitation and will permanently ban offending accounts.

We want to empower people to understand the risks of human smuggling and trafficking, to help them make informed choices. To alert our community to these risks, in 2023 we launched an intervention on our platform for people who search for terms associated with human smuggling or trafficking. When someone searches for certain words or phrases, they are directed to expert resources from STOP THE TRAFFIK, with information about the dangers of human smuggling and trafficking. These resources give our community the option to make a report, find safety tips and provide details of organisations that can help vulnerable people. The search interventions have been rolled out in the UK, France and Albania.

TikTok is also a member of the BSR, a global non-profit organisation that seeks to advance cross-industry progress to create a more just and sustainable world, including with respect to human rights.

In addition to the BSR membership:

• We continued our membership in BSR's human rights and ESG reporting working groups. The human rights working group aims to implement the United Nation's Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights across all industries. We regularly participate in all working group meetings and we have engaged with BSR on modern slavery-related topics.
• We also partner with the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC). The organisation has been included in our in-app safety center as a resource for more information for our users.
• We have given ad credits to STOP THE TRAFFIK, a charitable organisation that raises awareness about and helps to combat human trafficking.

Further Steps

We are committed to reviewing our policies and practices to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking.

We have increased our efforts to manage risk in our supply chains as our business continues to evolve, and we expect to further enhance these risk-based controls in the coming year.

Approval

This statement was approved by TikTok’s Board of Directors and signed by Director Adam Michael Presser on 20 June 2024.

Adam Michael Presser

Director

20 June 2024