Ever been in a situation where you keep wondering “why am I getting tagged on TikTok by strangers”, In this post, I am going to help you understand why and give you some pointers on what you can do to protect yourself from this kind of intrusion.

TikTok is a social media platform/hosting service owned by ByteDance a Chinese company; where people share short mobile videos with their contacts or followers. It was launched in 2017 for both Android and iOS. 

TikTok’s mission is to inspire creativity by enabling people to share all sorts of short video genres like comedy, stunts, dance, pranks, entertainment, music, etc.

The TikTok mobile app allows users to create short videos, which often have music in the background and they can be sped up, slowed down, or edited with a filter. They can also add their own sound on top of the background music. 

So, Why Am I Getting Tagged On TikTok By Strangers?

TikTok Tag or Mention Feature

TikTok has a Tag or Mention feature where another TikTok user can tag or mention you in their video using the @ symbol. They can also mention you in their description, comments, stickers, etc.

When someone tags or mentions you in their video, it just means they added you in their TikTok video or they put your username in their video.

They could have done this maybe for inspiration or maybe the video creator wants you to look at the video and give your opinion on it, or they are giving you credit for the video. Or they may need to ask you something. 

It could be any other reason really. But generally, someone (that is, someone in your following/friends) mentioning you in their video could be mostly good news for you.

However, given that TikTok, like any other social media platform, is not immune to scammers and bots, a considerable number of people have been experiencing the negative side of this feature; when they get tags and mentions from people they do not know (strangers).

Reports have circulated of people being mentioned multiple times in a video by a stranger, it’s pretty annoying, frustrating and probably a bit unnerving.

Unfortunately, TikTok has yet to find a solution for this problem, and until they do, here listed below are a few steps you can take to protect yourself from this or to limit or even stop unwanted tags and mentions from strangers and spammers.

1. Change Your TikTok Privacy Settings

When you limit the people who get to tag or mention you in their TikTok videos, you will be one step closers to ending unsolicited mentions from strangers.

To do this you need to change your privacy settings so that only people you follow tag or mention you in their posts. This should at least significantly decrease unwanted tags and mentions.

To limit who can tag you on TikTok:

Open your TikTok account/app and go to your Profile page at the bottom

Click the Settings and Privacy tab, select Privacy, and look for the Mentions option under the Interactions section. 

Here, you can choose between the four audience options: Everyone, People you follow, Followers that you follow back, and, No one. After choosing your preferred option; that is the People you follow option, in this case, your unwanted TikTok tags should decrease significantly.

2. Untag Yourself From a TikTok Video Mention/Tag

The second step you can take if you happen to have been unnecessarily tagged or mentioned in a spam video by a stranger or a spammer or a bot on TikTok is to untag yourself from a video. You can perform this task pretty easily.

Follow these steps to untag yourself from a TikTok video:

Open your TikTok and tap on the Inbox icon at the bottom 

Under Activities, go to the All Activity tab

You’ll find your likes, comments, Q&A, mentions, tags, followers, etc. 

Select Mentions & tags. 

Here, find the unwanted video you were tagged in, and select it. 

When the video opens up, tap on the Tagged icon on the video and you’ll see all people who have been tagged. Find your name in the list and tap on the Remove Tag button.

When you do this, you’ll see a notification stating that “You just removed yourself from this video” at the top.

And just like that, you’re untagged from this video.

However, in case the culprit happens to have mentioned you in multiple videos, untagging yourself from one by one until you work your way through all of them could prove to be hectic, so make sure you have implemented the first step in your privacy settings to avoid all this ruckus.

3. Report the Issue to TikTok

Lastly, if you are faced with this unwanted tagging or mentioning problem, report it to TikTok support. This way they can look into it and offer a suitable solution. 

To report a problem on TikTok:

Launch your app and go to your Profile section at the bottom.

In the right upper corner tap on the three-line icon (☰), then go to Settings and Privacy 

Here, choose the Report a Problem option under the Support section.

In the next window, choose a topic and fill out the given form with clear details. 

You can also add relevant screenshots to show what you are reporting, and when you are done, click submit a report.

On the other hand, you can also access the TikTok page via a web browser using and report this issue to TikTok support.

If you’re reporting the issue on any other social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, or any other), don’t forget to tag @TikTok in your Tweets or posts.

Note that mass reporting this issue will most certainly compel TikTok to offer a quicker resolution.

In conclusion

For now, this is just about all you can do to protect yourself from being unwantedly and unnecessarily tagged in TikTok videos by any spammers, bots, or strangers, at least until TikTok finds a permanent solution to this problem.