TikTok Account Suspended: Why Does It Happen?

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Carolyn Howell

Last Updated: May 13, 2024

TikTok 101
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Is your TikTok account suspended? Why does this happen, and how do you recover a suspended account? Well, this social media platform suspends user accounts for various reasons. However, community guidelines and policy violations are the most prevalent reasons for these violations. 

While account suspensions are frequent on TikTok, you can sometimes recover suspended accounts. For instance, you can remove soft suspensions by contacting customer support or accessing your account information. This post discusses why this happens and how to fix it.

What Does It Mean When Your TikTok Account Is Suspended?

When TikTok suspends your account, it temporarily removes access to your account. Sometimes, the app may only remove access to a few features, allowing access to some. Suspensions are common on most social platforms and mean different things on those apps.

But what does it mean when your TikTok account is suspended? When your TikTok account suffers a temporary suspension, the app has disabled it for a specific period. This occurs when you violate the TikTok community guidelines. In this case, you may recover the account.

The social media app also suspends accounts from running ads when users violate TikTok’s advertising policies. When this happens, the app removes all ads under that account. If the app removes the suspension, those campaigns resume.

However, if you consistently violate the platform’s guidelines, TikTok may ban you permanently. In this case, it removes access to your account and shows a banner notification that indicates this change. You can also submit an appeal in this situation. 

Why Is My TikTok Account Suspended?

TikTok suspended your account because your activities violated its policy or guidelines. While wondering why my TikTok account is suspended, several actions lead to this suspension. Here are six reasons why the platform suspends user accounts.

1. Community Guidelines Violations

The community guidelines on TikTok are rules and codes of conduct for users on the platform. These apply to each user and regulate the kind of activity that the platform allows. For instance, these guidelines prohibit the sharing of content that shows:

  • Dangerous acts and challenges that pose safety risks.
  • Suicide or self-harm
  • Disordered eating or body images
  • Nudity or sexual content
  • Shocking and graphic content
  • Violent extremism, hateful behavior
  • Trading of regulated goods
  • Gambling
  • Firearms and dangerous weapons
  • Animal abuse

2. Content Issues

If you share content that contains or promotes harmful content like violence or terrorism, TikTok may suspend your account. Child abuse, bullying, hate speeches, and sexual content also fall into this category. Sharing drug-related content also constitutes a suspendable violation.

In fact, this is one of the most common reasons the social platform suspends user accounts. TikTok is quite popular for enforcing content moderation. As a result, the social media app quickly tracks posts with inappropriate content and suspends erring profiles. 

3. Suspicious Activity on Your Account

TikTok will suspend your account if it notices any suspicious activity on your account. For instance, this could be the response if the app notices fraudulent activities. Also, a high chargeback rate may prompt this response. 

This is quite a common reason for suspensions among people who run ads on social media platforms. Sometimes, the app only removes specific features that stop users from activities that pose violations.

4. Copyright Violations

TikTok’s terms of service don’t permit users to post, share, or send content that violates another person’s copyrights. Content that violates another party’s trademarks or intellectual property rights also creates a risk of suspension. 

You may get legal permission to use copyrighted material without permission. These usually include exceptions and fair use cases like criticism, quotations, and reviews. Otherwise, TikTok is very strict with enforcing the rules against such violations.

5. Platform Misuse

Platform misuse is becoming a significant issue on social media platforms like TikTok. This involves using the platform for aggressive, bulk, or deceitful activities. Such activities usually mislead others and disrupt their user experience. 

This significant issue is responsible for many user suspensions on this social media app. Users often exploit the platform’s features, such as likes, views, comments, and shares, to create impressions that are not always real. The results are these suspensions. 

6. Spam and Deceptive Behavior

Spam and deceptive behavior are major reasons social media platforms suspend many accounts. This involves operating large account networks and sending bulk posts, messages, or comments within a short period. 

Artificially boosting engagement metrics to increase a post’s reach also falls into this category. Running influence operations is another form of deceptive behavior. This includes running fake accounts to sell fake followers and coordinating user activities to influence specific trends and narratives. 

Another form of deception that attracts suspension is impersonation. This involves posing as another person without indicating that you’re running a fan or parody account. 

Appearing as a non-existent person could also warrant a suspension. All these activities may result in suspensions of different degrees.

How To Recover Suspended TikTok Account

According to TikTok, it uses human and automated evaluation to detect and enforce policy violations. However, the social media app allows you to appeal or wait out these suspensions. Therefore, you may be able to recover your account in some cases. 

So, here is how to recover a suspended TikTok account.

1. Recover Your Account by Sending an Email Through the App

If TikTok temporarily suspends your account, you may receive an email from the social media platform indicating this status. You can either wait for the suspension period to pass or contact support to help out with the issue. These types of suspensions usually last between 24 and 48 hours.

To follow this method, follow these steps:

  1. Launch the TikTok app on your mobile device and go to your profile by clicking the profile icon
  2. Once on your profile, tap the three lines icon, and the options will appear.
  3. Choose Settings and Privacy and choose the option to Report a problem
  4. Tap Account issue and choose Add an email
  5. Add a brief description of your problem and wait for their response. 

Typically, it takes about seven to nine hours to receive a response from TikTok’s customer support. However, this response determines if you must wait out the full suspension term.

2. Submit an Appeal for a Banned on TikTok

Sometimes, you may be unable to log into your TikTok suspended account. In this case, the platform may have permanently banned your account. However, you can send them a direct email in these cases. This method also works for temporary suspensions. 

Users from different countries can use different addresses. For example, these are some of the email addresses to use based on country:

After you’ve sent an email, wait for a response. However, remember that this method does not always work. While you may be able to recover your account with this suspension appeal, you may also not receive a response. 

You may also have to send more than one email before you get a reply. The platform requires you to appeal the suspension within two days, or you may lose your account permanently. 

3. Provide Identity Verification To Recover Your Account

In some cases, TikTok suspends users because of age restrictions. Here, you can resolve the suspension and recover your account by providing an identification document that verifies your age. 

This is usually helpful if you had initially entered the wrong age when creating your account. Either way, the social platform allows you to share a government ID with the TikTok help and support team. This way, you can verify your age and recover your profile. So, if you have this information, you can get your account back in no time. 

4. Use the Feedback Form on TikTok’s Website

The online form that allows you to share your feedback is a helpful tool for recovering your TikTok account. While it’s a direct channel for communicating any issues with the app, it also fits this use. Luckily, you can address your problem directly. 

So, here is how to use this feature:

  1. Launch a web browser and visit the page to share your feedback on TikTok
  2. Under the Contact Information section, enter your email address in the designated space. 
  3. Enter your username in the space available.
  4. Under the topic drop-down menu, choose Account ban/suspension
  5. Go to the Tell Us More section and choose the option that best applies to you. You can choose livestream, banned account (age-related), banned account (not age-related), or other. 
  6. Enter a detailed explanation of your complaint in the text box: How can we help? If some relevant pictures or videos will support your appeal, add them to the form. 
  7. Hit the Submit button after you’ve added all the necessary information that you think will help you. 

Typically, TikTok may take a few days to respond after your appeal. Lack of immediate action does not mean that you’ve lost your account. 

How Long Is My TikTok Account Suspended For?

TikTok can suspend your account for up to 14 days. The social media platform temporarily suspends user accounts for different durations depending on their violations. The more severe violations attract a more extended sentence than the simpler and more basic ones. 

So, how does one know how long their suspension is for? How long is my TikTok account suspended? Usually, most suspensions on TikTok range between 24 and 48 hours. If you appeal the suspension successfully, you may even lose your account for a shorter period. 

However, these suspensions can go on for as long as two weeks. Suspicious activity on the social platform, spam, and platform misuse may attract this suspension. The number of times you violate policy also affects your suspension sentence. 

In some cases, your account may even be permanently banned. More serious offenses like sharing sensitive content and impersonation attract these bans. 

In these cases, the chances of recovering your account are always slim. Sometimes, the best option is to create a new account instead of waiting for the suspension to expire. 

How To Prevent TikTok Account Suspension

When you become a serial offender, there are usually higher chances of losing your TikTok account. For this reason, protecting your account from suspensions is always a better idea. But how can you prevent TikTok account suspension?

The best way of stopping TikTok from suspending your account is to comply with community guidelines and policies. Here are some ways you can do that:

1. Don’t Share Sensitive or Violent Content

Sensitive and violent content. These are the primary reasons why TikTok suspends user accounts. So, you must avoid sharing content that falls within this category. The social media platform pays attention to this kind of content due to the backlash it has received.

Many countries have banned TikTok due to the type of content that dominates the app. The TikTok algorithm quickly detects content containing violence or sexual material that can cause it to ban you. 

2. Avoid Threats and Hate Speech

TikTok pays close attention to the conversations that happen on the platform. While you may engage in heated arguments, going too far may cause you to lose your account. So, to safeguard your account, avoid threatening others no matter what. 

3. Avoid Spammy Behavior

Besides suspending your account, TikTok may shadowban it when it notices spammy behavior. This includes sharing many posts or direct messages within a short period. The platform reads this behavior as unusual and initiates a ban or suspension.

So, you must share only a few posts daily and avoid following too many people within short periods. This way, your profile will not appear like a bot on TikTok

4. Don’t Share Content Promoting Illegal Activity

Sharing content that promotes or shows illegal activity is one fast way of ending up with a suspended TikTok account. This includes content that shows drugs, human exploitation, physical harm, and the breaking of the law. In such a situation, it would be hard to recover your account.

Grow Your Account Safely With High Social

Instead of putting your account in danger or getting your TikTok account suspended, grow it safely with High Social. 

This growth service helps attract real and organic followers interested in your brand. Having worked with over 15,000 brands and influencers, the agency has the necessary experience. 

Create an account, describe your target audience, and let High Social do the rest. This is the best answer if you need a large audience to push your influence on the platform. Its advanced targeting techniques only draw high-quality followers. Begin your TikTok growth now!

TikTok 101