TikTok slow to respond as antisemitic meme goes viral

Social media giant TikTok has been condemned by Australian Jewish leaders for being slow to act as an antisemitic meme went viral.

Viral TikTok video

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An abhorrent call for Iran to “just do it” and wipe Israel off the map has been allowed to trend on TikTok, sparking condemnation of the social media giant from Australian Jewish leaders.

As the countries exchange missile fire after Israel’s initial strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities last week, the TikTok posts have generated millions of interactions, with Australian creators joining in on the alarming trend.

The original video had itself amassed 1.4m views, with other videos encouraging the destruction of Israel.

The videos include users speaking to camera, or text conveying similar sentiments.

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This resulted in an explosion of antisemitic commentary on the platform, including many which referenced Hitler and Nazi-style rhetoric.

One user said they were praying for Israel to disappear from the map.

TikTok began taking down the offending videos hours after The Courier-Mail approached the social media giant for comment.

A spokeswoman said: “We do not allow violent behaviours on TikTok, and the videos in question have been removed.

“Our trust and safety teams are aware of this trend and are actively sweeping the platform to remove this content.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said the viral trend was a chilling example of how social media was being used as a tool of propaganda and recruitment.

“The fact that there’s these sorts of campaigns now calling openly for a state to be destroyed, and its millions of citizens – Jews and Arabs and Christians – to be destroyed and annihilated,” Mr Ryvchin said.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin

“It’s appalling and it’s shocking, but it’s the fruit of what has been planted in this country for a long, long time, and we’ve allowed a situation to arise where anti-Semitism has moved from the fringes of society to now being a mainstream popular movement that’s now attracting young people in ever increasing numbers.”

On TikTok, where the use of trending sound snippets helps propel videos into people’s feeds, hundreds of videos have been created using the sound, “Iran, if you’re listening, just do it.”

Mr Ryvchin said trending posts such as those on TikTok stripped people of their humanity and could lead to fundamental long-term damage to Australian society.

“Things can always get worse,” he said.

“I think people felt that after the summer of terror attacks and fire bombings, after that passed, the worst had already happened, and now things have gone back to normal.

“But I can tell you, the experience of Jewish Australians hasn’t gone back to normal.”

Mr Ryvchin said while the federal government had a role to play, responsibility and accountability lay with social media giants.

“So I think this is going to continue until people start feeling the heat and the brunt of their behaviour, because this conduct is so immoral and abhorrent that they need to face consequences for their actions,” he said.

A federal government spokeswoman said there was no place for antisemitism, or bigotry of any kind, in Australia.

“Anyone who sees inappropriate content online should use the relevant buttons to report it on the platform,” she said.

“They can also make a report to the e-Safety Commissioner (esafety.gov.au).”

Originally published as TikTok slow to respond as antisemitic meme goes viral