TikTok has implemented new measures to combat the denial of issues such as the effectiveness of vaccines, the dangers of contracting the coronavirus or the Holocaust on its platform, in association with UNESCO and the World Jewish Congress (WJC, for its acronym in English). ).
Users searching for terms related to these topics, especially the Holocaust (an issue that in recent years has been the focus of hoaxes and biased information) will be redirected to Internet portals that contain rigorous and accurate information.
Against Holocaust denial
A total of 17% of the content related to the Holocaust in the popular video application denied or distorted historical facts, as announced by UNESCO after an exhaustive investigation. For its part, TikTok assured that it put “all its strength” to eliminate any form of hate from its platform.
On the recent Holocaust Remembrance Day in late January, TikTok stated that when users of the social network search for a term related to the Holocaust, they will now see a banner at the top of the results page that will invite you to visit the official website of the WJC and UNESCO (aboutholocaust.org) to obtain reliable and official information. Users will also be redirected to that webpage if they search for terms like Holocaust, Holocaust Survivors, or Holocaust Memory.
Redirects to pages with reliable information
TikTok also assured that in the future it would add a permanent banner to the bottom of any video that calls into question the Nazi genocide during World War II and the persecution of the Jewish people, redirecting users searching for terms related to that to authoritative information pages .
“We believe that education plays a critical role in ending hate,” Elizabeth Kanter, director of government relations for TikTok, said at a press conference organized by the company. “Hateful behavior is incompatible with TikTok’s inclusive environment , and we will continue to do our utmost to keep our platform a hate-free place, while harnessing the power of TikTok to educate our user community.”
Special sensitivity with younger audiences
The president of the WJC, Ronald Lauder, expressed his great joy at learning about the new measures and assured through his social media profiles that TikTok is known for its ability to reach a younger audience , many of them very uninformed about the horrors. of the Holocaust and particularly susceptible to misinformation and hoaxes circulating online. Furthermore, the pandemic has exacerbated that threat of disinformation.
UNESCO has also ensured that disinformation about the Holocaust and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories have “increased dramatically on social media platforms” since the start of the pandemic. However, the most critical and skeptical users have said that the big video and social media platforms need to do even more.
