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TikTok is removing several Kenyan videos for violating its community guidelines as the company seeks to avoid government scrutiny over content moderation for sexually explicit content.

TikTok pulled 360,000 videos in Kenya in the three months to June, according to its recently released Q2 enforcement report. Removed 296,000 videos throughout 2023 in Kenya. Videos removed in the three-month period accounted for 0.3% of videos uploaded in Kenya in that quarter.

The platform was bound by the Kenyan government in April to share quarterly compliance reports because it faced a petition which threatened to see it banned in the country.

The proliferation of sexual content, particularly on TikTok in Kenya, has fueled the push for tighter moderation from regulators concerned about Only Fans-style content. Videos featuring ethnic incitement and violence are also often flagged for violating the rules.

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The TikTok report further revealed that the platform has banned nearly 60,000 accounts in Kenya for violating various community rules, many of which are suspected to belong to users under the age of 13. It says 99.1% of videos removed in April, May and June in Kenya were removed before users reported them.

The platform has credited its investments in technology to enable greater automatic detection of harmful content, which it uses alongside human moderators. The Bytedance-owned platform said it removed more than 178 million videos globally in June alone, of which 144 million were removed through automation.

In August TikTok the establishment of an advisory council with experts from across the continent to help inform its policies and improve content moderation.

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The number of videos removed last year was revealed by the platform’s head of government relations, Fortune Sibanda, when he appeared before the Kenyan Parliament earlier this year at the height of the petition to ban TikTok in Kenya. The failed petition sought to shut down the platform for broadcasting explicit, harmful and violent content in the country.

However, the country’s Ministry of Technology has told Parliament that it prefers to improve regulation of the platform rather than ban it.