Yitzhak ben Moshe, Editor/Reporter, New Mexico 

From promoting antisemitic accounts and Holocaust deniers to allowing live streams to raise funds for Hamas, TikTok has become the media arm for the Fourth Reich.

We like to share moments in our lives. Our child’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah, a video of our last trip to Israel, teaching from Chabad, our pets, and moments we find noteworthy. We share. We post our videos on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok. 

We also enjoy watching moments others find extraordinary. We laugh, cry, and are in awe over what we observe as we press the like button or even a heart. We are connected. We are a community. We are family.

Our joy over what we’ve shared or watched since 7 October has been hijacked. We can and do get past the ‘Free Palestine’ comments. We delete them, block the commentator, and move on. We can even overlook the accusations of genocide, pardoning the poster’s misunderstanding of the word. What we cannot tolerate is the willful silencing of Jewish voices while advocates for hate and terror are amplified. 

We’ve seen X devolve into a hate-fueled platform. It was out of control. To a point, it still is, but things are changing there. With X, like Facebook and Instagram, you can report hate and racism and know someone will look at your report and remove the offending post or comment. TikTok is another story altogether.

No matter how we look at it, no matter how much leeway we give them, we cannot deny that TikTok has become a citadel of Jewish hate and antisemitism. 

Jewish content creators are finding their voices muted with undefinable community guideline violations, account strikes, their videos being removed from the For You feed, as well as senseless bans. 

Another issue is the process when a video is posted to be reviewed before being made public. In many instances, after the video is posted, it is removed, and a strike is issued to the content creator. 

Far too often, we have seen videos removed for nothing more than sharing the Shema, how to wrap Tefillin or the lighting of Shabbat Candles. But what about poetry?

This creator, a seventeen-year-old girl, posted a poem that was removed. She appealed, and the video was eventually restored, but why was it removed? What was the issue with the video?

TikTok, who at one point said that they provide the reason a video was removed, failed to address the most common reason for video takedowns: 

“Violations reasons

“Community Guidelines

Your content is against our Community Guidelines. The guidelines include rules and standards for using TikTok that apply to everyone and everything on our platform.”

Poetry, the Shema, videos of the Rebbe, videos of Jews praying, the Israeli flag, and using the words Jew or Jewish are enough to have your videos taken down. 

Yet when Jewish content creators attempt to report posts, comments, or even live streams that are raising funds for Hamas, nothing happens. 

The environment has become so toxic that one creator has started a petition on Change.org to gain enough traction and visibility to effect change. 

Click Here To Sign The Petition!

We sent two media requests to TikTok. Both requests were met with silence on the part of the platform and their media representatives. 

We have even brought several posts, including the fundraisers for Hamas, to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Anti-Defamation League. The only group to take any interest was the FBI, which was about fundraising.

What started as a beautiful idea, TikTok has become the media arm for the Fourth Reich. As Jews, we cannot share our faith, show the beauty of Israel, or even correct the assumptions others hold about Judaism. When we speak, we are silent. When we appeal, we are punished. 

Yet, we can be threatened with death, no violation. We can be doxed, no violation. We can face all sorts of abusers online with no violation. We are being punished and silenced simply because we are Jewish.

My question is, why is the ADL silent? Where is the Simon Wiesenthal Center? Why are Jewish community organizations not speaking out? Why are they not doing anything? Why must people like Diane Rothschild start a petition on Change.org to bring some accountability to TikTok? Why are we fighting this fight alone?

We even shared a video from Unpacked that explained antisemitism; it was removed. 

TikTok is OK with hate, antisemitism, threats of violence, and doxing. They are okay, with profiting from our pain, suffering, and our fear. That needs to end. The time for change is now.

Our emails to TikTok follow:

The first email sent to TikTok ([email protected]) is:

To:​[email protected]​

Mon 2/19/2024 10:05 PM

Good morning/afternoon,

We are reaching out to you, once again, because of numerous emails and screenshots we are receiving from Jewish content creators on your platform. It seems TikTok is beginning to stifle the Jewish voice, and that is problematic.

For example, one account asked other Jewish creators about the Jewish places they visited the most. This was branded as hate speech by TikTok.

Another Jewish creator posted a video in response to a comment left on a video, and both the video and the account were removed as hate speech. The comment was asking how one becomes Jewish. The video from the creator explained what one must do.

One more example for you is of a creator who posted a multi-video series with interviews with survivors of the Holocaust. These videos were taken down under ‘harassment and bullying.’

One Jewish creator contacted us, saying, ‘I do not believe any other social media is acting similarly. There is no doubt that this is blatant antisemitism!’

Our questions to you:

1. What does TikTok use the exact guidelines to determine if something is:

a. Hate speech;

b. Harassment and bullying;

2. What AI tools are being utilized by TikTok in its initial assessment of what goes against your community standards;

3. Why can two creators post the same video? Each has the video taken down for violating community guidelines, and one has a successful appeal, and the other does not.

a. Why are the guidelines not applied equally?

4. Why are comments that utilize Diacritics, such as Nàzï, met with a no violations found notice when reported? This answer indicates to us, and our IT personnel, that TikTok is utilizing some level of AI in reviewing reports;

5. Why are many Jewish content creators telling us, and providing screenshots, that their videos are not posting, pending review, and then being removed a day later (removed after review and posting), claiming some violation of community guidelines?

Previously, you referred us to your community guidelines and provided comments that did not address our specific questions. The issues Jewish content creators are now facing are growing at an alarming rate.

Our deadline for response is 22 February 2024 at 1700hrs MST. We will publish the following day at 0200hrs MST.

Our follow-up:

So now TikTok has begun to block us from sending direct messages? We cannot send messages such as ‘Check your email’ or that we sent something to the Rabbi who reviews our articles before publication. We now have additional questions for you:

1. How does AI verify messages? What is the process? We know that AI is being used on direct messages, as these messages were flagged as soon as we hit the send button. 

2. Why are benign messages from a media outlet to a contributing writer blocked?

We look forward to a reply. Our deadline still stands from the previous email.

TikTok refuses to respond to Jewish media or their Jewish content creators. 

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Have a story you want to share? Get in touch with Yitzhak at [email protected]  or call +1.929.554.0153.  

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