TikTok has announced an incoming tightening of its policies around political accounts using its video-sharing platform, such as those belonging to political parties, politicians and governments.

The changes look intended to limit, er, political grifting (for want of a better term) -- with an incoming ban on use of monetization features (like tipping, gifting and ecommerce) or on using the video-sharing platform to solicit campaign donations directly.

Political accounts will also be ineligible for TikTok's Creator Fund, as well as being unable to access ad features by default.

A spokeswoman for the company said the changes are designed to promote a positive environment and reduce polarization in line with its mission of being an entertainment platform. TikTok said the changes will roll out and/or start being enforced in the "coming weeks". It also confirmed the new policies are being applied globally.

In a blog post about the policy update, it added:

While TikTok has banned political advertising since 2019 it is going a little further now -- saying it wants to build on that prohibition on "political content in ads" by applying ad restrictions at an account level.

"This means accounts belonging to politicians and political parties will automatically have their access to advertising features turned off, which will help us more consistently enforce our existing policy," it explained.

TikTok notes there may still be "limited" situations where it will allow political accounts to advertise -- such as for raising awareness of public health reasons. But it said government organizations will be "required" to work with a company representative in order to run such campaigns, so it will be vetting all requests.