The platform is actively trying to defend its principles, but critics are unlikely to accept these arguments.
On November 2, the TikTok corporate blog published an entry aimed at refuting accusations of promoting a political agenda amid the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The company stated: "Unfortunately, some misinformed commentators have mischaracterized our work to prevent the spread of hate speech and misinformation related to the crisis in Israel and Gaza, especially with regard to anti-Semitism." Representatives of TikTok said that the company is constantly increasing its efforts to protect the global community from misinformation.
"Over the past few days, an unsubstantiated analysis of TikTok hashtag data related to the conflict has been conducted, leading some commentators to falsely conclude that TikTok promotes pro — Palestinian content instead of pro-Israeli among American users," the company explained, and urged journalists and analysts to carefully study the data before "drawing erroneous conclusions."
The company provided statistics showing that from October 7 to October 31, the hashtag #standwithisrael gained 46 million views among users in the United States, while the hashtag #standwithpalestine gained 29 million views during the same period. This is proved by the fact that there is no preponderance towards pro-Palestinian content, not to mention its deliberate promotion by the company.
TikTok also announced the removal of about 1 million videos that clearly violate the platform's policies related to violence, hatred, disinformation and terrorism, including content that promotes Hamas.
In addition, since the beginning of the conflict, the platform has removed 24 million fake accounts, including more than half a million bot comments under hashtags related to the situation in Gaza.
TikTok has also launched reminders for users searching for certain keywords in Hebrew, Arabic, or English to promote awareness of possible misinformation.
In mid-October, after hundreds of reports of disinformation, propaganda and graphic images of kidnappings on social media, the European Commissioner for Industry gave TikTok 24 hours to present measures to counter the spread of disinformation.
Similar notifications were sent to Facebook and X. The latter also responded to the accusations, deleting hundreds of accounts and tens of thousands of violent posts.
The current situation demonstrates the importance of thorough verification of facts and data on the Internet, especially during the escalation of a conflict. Although social media platforms are responsible for moderation of content, they may not be able to keep up with the hundreds of posts published every minute.
Instead of accepting accusations of bias on faith, it is necessary to carefully study statistics and facts. Companies must be transparent in their moderation and anti-disinformation efforts, and commentators and journalists must take a responsible approach to data analysis before spreading such serious accusations.
On November 2, the TikTok corporate blog published an entry aimed at refuting accusations of promoting a political agenda amid the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The company stated: "Unfortunately, some misinformed commentators have mischaracterized our work to prevent the spread of hate speech and misinformation related to the crisis in Israel and Gaza, especially with regard to anti-Semitism." Representatives of TikTok said that the company is constantly increasing its efforts to protect the global community from misinformation.
"Over the past few days, an unsubstantiated analysis of TikTok hashtag data related to the conflict has been conducted, leading some commentators to falsely conclude that TikTok promotes pro — Palestinian content instead of pro-Israeli among American users," the company explained, and urged journalists and analysts to carefully study the data before "drawing erroneous conclusions."
The company provided statistics showing that from October 7 to October 31, the hashtag #standwithisrael gained 46 million views among users in the United States, while the hashtag #standwithpalestine gained 29 million views during the same period. This is proved by the fact that there is no preponderance towards pro-Palestinian content, not to mention its deliberate promotion by the company.
TikTok also announced the removal of about 1 million videos that clearly violate the platform's policies related to violence, hatred, disinformation and terrorism, including content that promotes Hamas.
In addition, since the beginning of the conflict, the platform has removed 24 million fake accounts, including more than half a million bot comments under hashtags related to the situation in Gaza.
TikTok has also launched reminders for users searching for certain keywords in Hebrew, Arabic, or English to promote awareness of possible misinformation.
In mid-October, after hundreds of reports of disinformation, propaganda and graphic images of kidnappings on social media, the European Commissioner for Industry gave TikTok 24 hours to present measures to counter the spread of disinformation.
Similar notifications were sent to Facebook and X. The latter also responded to the accusations, deleting hundreds of accounts and tens of thousands of violent posts.
The current situation demonstrates the importance of thorough verification of facts and data on the Internet, especially during the escalation of a conflict. Although social media platforms are responsible for moderation of content, they may not be able to keep up with the hundreds of posts published every minute.
Instead of accepting accusations of bias on faith, it is necessary to carefully study statistics and facts. Companies must be transparent in their moderation and anti-disinformation efforts, and commentators and journalists must take a responsible approach to data analysis before spreading such serious accusations.
