TikTok, the controversial social media platform with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, has been in the news for many unfavorable reasons in recent years.
For starters, the app has riddled controversy for its CCP ties to the point that it was shut off in the United States entirely earlier this year. There are reports that the platform may be sold during President Donald Trump’s term.
Additionally, TikTok’s disturbing algorithm has been pointed to cyberbullying and even a teenager’s suicide, as Townhall covered.
But that’s not all. Another issue plaguing TikTok is the excessive antisemitism shared on the app. So much so, that the company decided to hire a hate speech manager to deal with it.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, TikTok hired Erica Mindel, who previously consulted for Biden administration anti-Semitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt, to serve as its new public policy manager for hate speech (via the Free Beacon):
The move comes amid a sharp rise in anti-Semitism on TikTok, which the Jewish Federations of North America said has been the "worst offender." Those who use TikTok more than 30 minutes a day are 17 percent more likely to hold anti-Semitic or anti-Israel views than those who do not, according to a 2023 survey. The problem grew after Oct. 7 to such a degree that Jewish celebrities and influencers have called the company to account for its role in promoting hatred against Jews.
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Some of the examples of anti-Semitism spreading on TikTok include the conspiracy theory that contemporary Jews are not Jews but actually "Khazars" and bent on world domination, notions that Jews are responsible for the world's wars in an effort to gain power, and suggested searches with names like "Ashkenazi Jewish witchcraft Satanism."
According to the Free Beacon, Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America said that Lipstadt's office was silent on instances of anti-Semitism that were politically inconvenient for the Biden administration. This included Lipstadt's office failing to publicly address Arab leaders who denied the Holocaust.
"During [Lipstadt's] tenure, she refused to call out all sorts of antisemitism around the world," Klein told the Free Beacon.
