Is TikTok Antisemitic?

In a recent call with TikTok executives, actor Sasha Baron Cohen said that the app is responsible for “creating the biggest antisemitic movement since the Nazis.”

The bold remark is far from unfounded. Cohen and more than 30 other Hollywood celebrities and influencers joined the call with TikTok.They expressed their concern over the surge in antisemitic content and misinformation on TikTok following the October 7th massacre of Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists.

Sasha Baron Cohen said that TikTok is responsible for “creating the biggest antisemitic movement since the Nazis.”

Actress Debra Messing expressed outrage at the platform’s failure to moderate the slogan “from the river to the sea,” which calls for the eradication of Jews from Israel. She said, “I understand that you are in a very, very difficult and complicated place, but you also are the main platform for the dissemination of Jew hate.”

The meeting was initiated by Jewish celebrities, including Amy Schumer and Montana Tucker, who wrote TikTok executives, remarking, “Dear TikTok, Your Platform is not safe for Jewish users.” In their letter, they said, "We are scared to leave our homes. We feel compelled to hire armed security. We are frightened to post for fear of receiving more suffocating digital hate. We fear that only an unfathomable tragedy befalling a Jewish TikTok creator will lead to change. Is that what you are waiting for?”

Criticism around the TikTok platform has been growing over the past few weeks, as comments such as “Hitler was right” or “I hope you end up like Anne Frank” are left under videos posted by Jewish users without any issue from the moderators.

It was tough to believe until I started to see it for myself with the digital marketing I do at Aish.

Inside Our Digital Marketing Efforts at Aish

On October 7th, all social media platforms experienced a massive influx of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish content. At Aish, we’ve been working to counter the hate by sharing inspirational messages from our soldiers in Israel, heartwarming acts of kindness by Jews worldwide, and inspiring others to have hope in the Jewish nation.

Thankfully, our team had tremendous success. In the weeks following the war, we experienced more video views, engagements, and follower growth on our social channels than we have ever experienced before. In the first four weeks following the war, we had over 63,000,000 video views, 4,500,000 engagements, and more than 122,000 new followers across our socials. We received incredible feedback, inspired Jews to reconnect with their roots, and helped spread the truth about what is really happening in Israel.

Promoting our content via ad channels wasn’t an issue until we came to TikTok.

Since the war in Israel began, TikTok has flagged almost any reel we try to promote. This includes videos of Jews singing ‘Am Yisrael Chai’, a Holocaust survivor blessing his grandson to be safe while protecting Israel, and Jewish people gathering to sing Hatikva, the national anthem of Israel. It’s not exactly hateful or discriminatory content, to say the least.

None of this content was flagged on any other ad platforms. As a digital marketing professional, it isn’t uncommon to see ad content flagged for a variety of reasons. What was uncommon was that after every post we tried to promote, we got a warning that our entire account may be suspended.

I decided to play it safe and would no longer promote any content relating to Israel. So what could be more innocent than a video on how to bake challah?

TikTok banned this threatening challah video.

The TikTok moderators thought otherwise.

Our ads had been rejected because “the ad may feature or promote political content.” Challah didn’t seem very political to me, so we tried to appeal the claim, but our appeal was rejected.

In the days following, we received an email from TikTok with the following message:

At the same time, our account has been flooded with hateful, antisemitic comments. Somehow, these must have all passed under the radar of the diligent TikTok moderators.

Do Not Stand By

A lot of good happens on TikTok. Aish has used TikTok to connect Jews around the world to Jewish wisdom and inspiration. Without TikTok, reaching an entire demographic of young Jewish Americans would be considerably more difficult.

But we cannot stand idly by when we see evil and hate. We need to raise our voices about the onslaught of antisemitic and anti-Israel attacks on social media over the past few weeks.

Whether it’s TikTok moderators, social media commenters, or antisemitic influencers, we will continue to stand up for what is right and fight hatred. This is our moral duty. Am Yisrael Chai.