A group of Jewish and Israeli employees at TikTok have accused the China-owned company of allowing hostile conditions and internal instances of antisemitism since Israel’s war with Hamas began in October, according to an alarming report Thursday.
Jewish employees at the company allegedly told Fox Business that TikTok has allowed “antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiments” to be “expressed freely” on the company’s internal messaging system, “Lark.”
The report was based on interviews with an unspecified number of TikTok employees from multiple offices, including ones located in the US and another in the UK, who spoke to the outlet on condition of anonymity.
“Currently, the atmosphere for Jewish employees at TikTok is very difficult,” a US-based employee told the outlet. “We feel we were not provided with the relevant support that was afforded to our peers working in other tech companies at the outset of the conflict.”
“We feel that we had to fight for recognition that something horrible had happened to us and fight for recognition of our very difficult feelings of insecurity,” the employee added.
The allegations add another headache for TikTok, which has faced renewed calls from Republican lawmakers for an outright ban on the app due to their concerns about the spread of anti-Israel posts on the platform, as The Post reported.
Scrutiny intensified after influencers active on TikTok went viral for praising 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
In the latest fiasco, Fox Business said it obtained screenshots that “show the unabashed celebration by multiple TikTok employees, including those based in the US, of Hamas’ barbaric acts.”
One of the screenshots, which was not published, reportedly showed a Tennessee-based content moderator at TikTok endorsing a post in support of the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement,” which calls on the public to cut spending on companies linked to Israel.
Employees say TikTok has failed to provide adequate support to its Jewish and Israeli employees since Hamas killed more than 1,200 people in a surprise attack last Oct. 7. The company purportedly allowed the creation of a Palestinian support group but “no such option” specifically for Israelis.
The employees further allege that TikTok’s content moderators have allowed the spread of antisemitic videos, anti-Israeli content and disinformation about the war while allowing pro-Palestinian content to flourish on the app.
One Jewish TikTok employees told the outlet that they felt the company “no longer has any control over the 40,000 moderators working to fact-check and remove content that is inflammatory, inciting, and simply incorrect.”
“Content moderation is just one part of the problem,” added a second employee. “Those setting the policy that directs those moderators often shy away from even branding violent Palestinian groups as such.”
When reached for comment, a TikTok spokesperson said the company disputed the article’s claims and said the allegations “do not reflect the experience of the majority of our employees.”
“TikTok has strong policies against discrimination and harassment in the workplace, and employees are encouraged to report their concerns – anonymously if they so choose,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Every incident is investigated by the appropriate internal team.”
“Our CEO sent a message to all employees denouncing the attacks of October 7th, and the company published a statement on our website as well. TikTok has had an internal group called MazalTok, to provide resources and a community for our Jewish and Israeli employees, that has doubled in size since the start of the war.”
“Hateful ideologies, including antisemitism, are not and have never been allowed on our platform,” the statement added. “From October 7 to November 17, we have removed more than 1.1 million videos in the conflict region for breaking our rules, including content promoting Hamas, hate speech, terrorism and misinformation.”
On the issue of content moderation, the spokesperson said “community guidelines are applied equally to all content, and our recommendation algorithm does not ‘promote’ one side of an issue over another.”
TikTok has repeatedly denied that videos espousing pro-Palestinian viewpoints are given preferential treatment by its algorithms.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement to Fox that “social media services, including TikTok, have contributed to the proliferation of antisemitism, anti-Zionism and anti-Israel misinformation in deeply concerning ways.”
“TikTok claims they’re doing all they can to prevent the spread of antisemitism on the platform, so that leaves me with one of two thoughts: One, it’s definitely not working, as in their systems are failing, or two, their processes are being undermined internally,” Greenblatt added.
Last month, a group of about 40 mostly Jewish executives from the business and tech sectors met with top TikTok leadership to express concerns about antisemitism on the platform and the allegedly disproportionate popularity of pro-Palestinian videos on the app.
The executives purportedly presented a data analysis that showed what they felt was an “unexplainable discrepancy” in content that favored Palestinians, according to Fortune.
Source
