Jewish celebrities and influencers confront TikTok executives in private conversation

More than a dozen Jewish TikTok creators and celebrities confronted TikTok executives and other employees at a private meeting Wednesday night, urging them to do more to address the wave of anti-Semitism and harassment against the popular video service.

The meeting, which lasted about 90 minutes via video call and included a total of more than 30 people, included actors Sacha Baron Cohen, Debra Messing and Amy Schumer. It was led by Adam Presser, TikTok’s head of operations, and Seth Melnick, its global head of user operations. The executives said they wanted to learn more about what the creators were experiencing to improve the app, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The New York Times.

The celebrities and creators described, sometimes with fiery rhetoric, how TikTok’s tools failed to prevent a flood of comments like “Hitler was right” or “I hope you’re like me” beneath videos posted by them and other Jewish users. Anne Frank ends’ was prevented.

“What’s happening with TikTok is it’s creating the biggest anti-Semitic movement since the Nazis,” Mr. Cohen, who does not appear to have an official TikTok account, said early in the call. He criticized the platform’s violent images and misinformation, telling Presser: “Shame on you” and claiming TikTok could “flip a switch” to fix anti-Semitism on its platform.

Mr. Presser and Mr. Melnick of TikTok, who are also Jewish and live in the United States, were largely conciliatory at the meeting. “It’s clear that there’s truth to a lot of what Sacha says,” Mr Presser said after a brief silence. Mr. Presser said there was truth in Mr. Cohen’s comments, but later said there was no “magic button” to address all the concerns raised.

TikTok is urgently trying to counter escalating claims that it is promoting pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel content through its powerful feeds. Several lawmakers in Washington have renewed their calls to ban the app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, arguing that Beijing may exert influence over the content promoted through the platform’s algorithms.

Anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate speech has increased on many online services since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. Anti-Semitic content has increased by more than 919 percent on X and 28 percent on Facebook in the month since October 7. This is reported by the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy organization. TikTok has received particular attention due to its ties to China, and its powerful algorithm sends content to 150 million users in the United States.

“If you think back to October 7, the reason why Hamas was able to behead young people and rape women was because they were given images from when they were little children that made them hate,” Mr. Cohen said at the meeting. He accused TikTok of providing similar inflammatory content to young people.

“We recognize that this is an incredibly difficult and frightening time for millions of people around the world and in our TikTok community,” TikTok said in a statement. “Our leadership met with creators, civil society, human rights experts and stakeholders to hear their experiences and feedback on how TikTok can continue to be a place for community, discovery and authentic sharing.”

TikTok arranged the Wednesday meeting with the makers in response to a message open letter they sent criticism to the company last week.

One TikTok user, who could not be identified from the recording, was incredulous about a “Letter to America,” written by Osama bin Laden two decades ago, that began going viral on TikTok this week and finding some support among young Americans. In the letter, Bin Laden justified the killing of Americans and expressed his hatred of the Jewish people and his anger over Palestine.

The letter, the person said, had become the “talk of the app,” adding: “In terms of trending topics right now, this trend needs to end. This app must ban this letter.”

Mirjam Ezaguia TikTok creator and nurse with 1.9 million followers, said some popular editing features on the site are being used by some users to twist her words in a video and send waves of hate her way.

Mr Presser said the use of the tools to perpetuate hate was another “important flag” for the company to follow up on.

“We can do better,” he said.

Ms. Messing, who has more than 37,000 followers on TikTok, urged executives that TikTok moderate its pro-Palestinian slogan “from the river to the sea,” which many Americans view as a call to eradicate Israel. It is considered anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League and has appeared in messages and comments to many Jewish TikTok users, regardless of what they post.

Mr Presser said the sentence was open to interpretation by TikTok’s 40,000 moderators.

“Where it is clear exactly what they mean – ‘kill the Jews, eradicate the state of Israel’ – the content is offensive and we remove it,” he told the group. “Our approach until October 7, and continuing today, was that if people use the phrase where it is not clear, or if someone just uses it in passing, that is considered acceptable language.”

The idea of ​​the term “casually” being used upset several participants.

Ms Messing asked the company to reconsider its position, saying: “It’s much more responsible to block it at this point than to say, ‘Oh yeah, some people are using it in a different way than what it was actually designed for.’ mean.’ I understand that you are in a very, very difficult and complicated situation, but you are also the main platform for the spread of Jew-hatred.”

Several creators asked why they couldn’t reach individuals on TikTok directly for help with the harassment. One creator said it took three to five days for TikTok to respond when she reported harassment.

The executives said TikTok used to have managers for each creator, but that became more difficult as the company grew. It is now trying to reorganize its creator management teams to get more individual or community support for larger accounts, Mr. Presser said.

“To hear that this place, this platform, this community that has brought you so much joy and helps each of you as individuals, is becoming a place that feels like a place you’re not sure you want to spend time in , I mean, that’s devastating,” he said.

“This is where we get the feedback, this is where we hear what isn’t working,” Mr. Presser said at the end of the conversation. “A lot of it, honestly I’m ashamed to say, is new. I haven’t heard much about it.”