Jewish influencers write open letter to TikTok demanding action on surge in antisemtism
Jewish TikTok influencer Eitan Bernath joins 'America's Newsroom' to discuss the 'ginormous' rise in antisemitism on the social media platform and his calls for additional safety features and content moderation.
Several Jewish celebrities, including Sacha Baron Cohen, Debra Messing and Amy Schumer, dressed TikTok executives down during a private meeting this week over antisemitic content proliferating on the social media platform.
The New York Times reported obtaining a recording of the meeting, led by TikTok Head of Operations Adam Presser and Global Head of User Operations Seth Melnick, to hear from content creators about their impressions of the app.
Several of the creators invited included prominent Jewish celebrities who used the opportunity to reprimand the platform for antisemitic content found there.
"The celebrities and creators described, sometimes with fiery rhetoric, how TikTok’s tools did not prevent a flood of comments like ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘I hope you end up like Anne Frank’ under videos posted by them and other Jewish users," The Times reported.
Jewish celebrities including Debra Messing and Sacha Baron Cohen blasted TikTok executives this week for antisemitic posts spreading on the platform. (1) Noam Galai / Contributor 2) Pool)
"What is happening at TikTok is it is creating the biggest antisemitic movement since the Nazis," Cohen said, according to The Times.
He rebuked Presser, telling him, "Shame on you," and insisted that TikTok could "flip a switch" to remove the distressing content from its platform.
Presser and Melnick appeared to agree with Cohen’s perspective that social media companies could be doing more to combat antisemitism.
"Obviously a lot of what Sacha says, there’s truth to that," Presser said, though he later insisted there is no "magic button" to solve the issue.
Elsewhere in the meeting Cohen said, "If you think back to Oct. 7, the reason why Hamas were able to behead young people and rape women was they were fed images from when they were small kids that led them to hate."
The Times wrote that Cohen "accused TikTok of feeding similarly incendiary content to young people."
The meeting was TikTok’s response to an open letter signed by Jewish creators, including Cohen, Messing, Schumer, comedian Michael Rapaport and others, accusing the platform of being "not safe for Jewish users."
Debra Messing spoke at The March for Israel in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday this week. (Noam Galai / Contributor)
The letter alleged, "The daily reality for Jewish content creators on TikTok includes death threats, endless threatening comments on posts (many just for being Jewish), and a barrage of harassment in all forms of TikTok-facilitated interaction. And that was true before the massacres of Jews on October 7th. Since then, the hate directed at Jewish content creators has been compounded to unimaginable degrees. It’s relentless and, worst of all, it’s largely permitted."
Messing, who recently spoke out against antisemitism at the March of Israel in D.C. this past week, "pressed executives on TikTok’s moderation of the pro-Palestinian slogan ‘from the river to the sea,’" the paper reported, and called it a "platform for the dissemination of Jew hate."
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The executives told the actress that they would ban its use on the platform when "it is clear exactly what they mean — ‘kill the Jews, eradicate the state of Israel.’"
A rep for TikTok referred Fox News Digital to its statement in response to this type of criticism of the platform.
"We recognize this is an incredibly difficult and fearful time for millions of people around the world and in our TikTok community," a spokesman said. "Our leadership has been meeting with creators, civil society, human rights experts and stakeholders to listen to their experiences and feedback on how TikTok can remain a place for community, discovery, and sharing authentically."
TikTok has been under fire this week after a letter written by 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden trended on the platform. In the letter, which was released in 2002, bin Laden justified the deadliest terrorist attack in American history, invoking antisemitic tropes while doing so.
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