TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew revealed the company's intention to expand its activities in Saudi Arabia, enhance its investments in its market by offering more services and features, and deepen the platform's understanding of local culture.

Shou mentioned in an interview with Asharq on the sidelines of LEAP 2024 that he visited the Kingdom twice since the beginning of this year, in attempts to 'deepen understanding of Saudi values and explore opportunities in the Kingdom's promising market.'

Shou said in response to a question about the platform's interest in Saudi Arabia: 'We are very interested in working here. The Kingdom is an extremely important country due to the vitality and dynamism of its population. They have high technical skills, most of them are young, and they are among the early users of TikTok.'

He explained that the platform, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, 'aims to test many of its new product features, such as e-commerce, first in Saudi Arabia, because TikTok users in the Kingdom belong to the early adopter category and are proficient in dealing with technology.'

Shou pointed out that the Kingdom is one of the largest Arab countries in terms of area and population, along with the rapid rate of adoption of modern technologies, noting that this makes the Saudi market promising for investment by TikTok.

He added: 'The Kingdom also features rapid technology adoption among users, and the feedback we receive from them is important because they represent a very vibrant community and use many of the prominent features we offer. Additionally, the number of TikTok users here is increasing, and we are very fortunate to have a large and engaged user base here.'

More than 175,000 startups

The TikTok CEO pointed out that the startup sector in the Kingdom is one of the most important users of the platform, noting that there are more than 175,000 startups in Saudi Arabia using TikTok to support their businesses and expand their reach to the audience.

In addition to being an important platform for content creation, Shou considered that TikTok has become a vital platform for users to find what they are looking for in their daily lives. He gave an example that during his stay in Saudi Arabia, he used TikTok to search for the best place to have coffee, and got excellent recommendations for many local restaurants and cafes.

He continued: 'It is no longer limited to entertainment content. TikTok is now used to provide educational and health content, and it also helps entrepreneurs and small businesses support their operations, leaving a positive economic impact.'

He added: 'Some still have a wrong impression about TikTok. The platform is not only for dancing and singing, but covers diverse forms of content, and experience is the best proof.'

Content moderation

In response to criticisms directed at TikTok by users in Saudi Arabia regarding content moderation, the TikTok CEO said during his interview with Asharq that he 'pays great attention to the criticisms directed at the platform by its users in the Kingdom regarding content moderation,' explaining that TikTok's content moderation policies 'are applied on a global basis, with a tendency to prioritize safety and caution.'

He added that sometimes, when the platform deletes some content, the public may expect the decisions to be 'somewhat biased,' denying any bias, but adding: 'All we strive for is to maintain safety on our platform, but certainly our moderation policies are not perfect.'

According to Shou, TikTok allocates $2 billion for investment in trust and safety measures on the platform, in addition to increasing the proportion of Arabic speakers in safety and security teams, ensuring a safe experience for Saudi users of the platform.

He continued: 'We have held discussions with a number of content creators, users, and regulatory authorities in Saudi Arabia to improve our understanding of local values, and we will work to invest more in building our capabilities and providing more features in the local language, so that we can apply our guidelines more accurately in the Kingdom.'

Saudi audience engagement

In response to a question about how TikTok subscribers have increased in Saudi Arabia, Shou noted that 'the Saudi audience interacts significantly on the platform. Users are not content with just browsing content on the For You page, which offers content suggestions tailored to user preferences, but they also initiate content posting on a daily basis, enriching the experience on the platform.'

Alongside social communication, the TikTok CEO sees a great demand from Saudi startups to use the platform to expand their businesses, by promoting their products through innovative content on the platform, using advertising tools, which Shou affirms open up major expansion opportunities for companies to reach a broad segment of the audience.

The TikTok CEO also pointed out that the platform is currently studying the pilot launch of its e-commerce platform TikTok Shop in Saudi Arabia, which allows content creators to market their products within videos, so that their followers can directly click on the product from the video to enter its page on TikTok Shop and purchase directly.

When asked about the platform's plans for the Saudi market, the TikTok CEO expressed optimism about the set plans, noting that TikTok will work to enhance its investments in the Kingdom and its partnerships with several entities, foremost among them promotional campaigns in coordination with the Saudi Tourism Authority, as well as cooperation with the smart city NEOM, as these campaigns garnered billions of views.

Regarding the partnerships the platform has made in the Kingdom, he said that the most prominent local partnerships of TikTok in Saudi Arabia is with Injaz Saudi Arabia, a non-profit program specialized in qualifying students for the labor market, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship through experience-based programs and knowledge transfer by volunteers.

He explained that this partnership aims to 'invest in the Kingdom's youth by creating educational content about entrepreneurship to influence two million young men and women, to empower them, educate them, and increase their employment opportunities.'

Shou emphasized TikTok's keenness to support the Kingdom's Vision 2030 strategy, noting that the platform cooperates and coordinates its efforts with the relevant ministries to highlight the unique characteristics and cultures of Saudi society and introduce them to the world.