In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the TikTok social media platform has partnered up with UNESCO and the World Jewish Congress to address Holocaust denial and distortion. Users looking for Holocaust-related posts will from now on be directed to ones that have been verified.
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The spread of inaccurate information about the Holocaust on social media has become a widespread problem, with platforms beginning to take action against it.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate said last August that 84% of online antisemitic content reported was allowed to remain on the platforms.
According to UN and UNESCO data, 17% of Holocaust-related content posted on TikTok denied the atrocities ever happened or distorted the narrative. As such, the platform has decided to stand up against such content with the help of UNESCO and WJC experts.
Starting January 27 – the International Holocaust Remembrance Day – users looking up Holocaust-related content on TikTok will be directed to verified information, including the WJC's aboutholocaust.org website that features accurate historical information on the events of the Holocaust in 19 languages.
"Denying, distorting, or downplaying the Holocaust is a vicious form of antisemitism," Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay said. "We welcome TikTok's commitment to working with UNESCO and the WJC. All online platforms must take responsibility for spreading hate speech [and do so] by promoting credible sources of information."
President of WJC Ronald S Lauder concurred.
"The World Jewish Congress is proud to collaborate with UNESCO and TikTok in creating a fact-based and reliable information source about the Holocaust which is available to its users. TikTok is known for its ability to reach a younger audience, many of whom lack knowledge about the horrors of the Holocaust and are particularly sensitive to misinformation."
A year ago, UNESCO and the WJC partnered up with Facebook for the same cause. Since then, over 400,000 users have visited aboutholocaust.org from over 100 countries.
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