More than a dozen Jewish TikTok creators and celebrities confronted TikTok executives and other employees in a private meeting Wednesday night, urging them to do more to address rising anti-Semitism and harassment on the popular video service.
Actors Sacha Baron Cohen, Debra Messing and Amy Schumer attended the meeting, held via video call for about 90 minutes and attended by more than 30 people in total. It was led by Adam Presser, TikTok’s chief operating officer, and Seth Melnick, its global head of user operations. Executives said they wanted to know more about what the creators were experimenting with to improve the app, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The New York Times.
Celebrities and creators described, sometimes with fiery rhetoric, how TikTok tools failed to prevent an avalanche of comments like “Hitler was right” or “I hope you end up like Anne Frank” on videos posted by them and other Jewish users.
“What’s happening on TikTok is that it’s creating the biggest anti-Semitic movement since the Nazis,” Cohen, who does not appear to have an official TikTok account, said at the beginning of the call. He criticized violent imagery and misinformation on the platform, telling Presser, “What a shame,” and claiming TikTok could “flip a switch” to correct anti-Semitism on its platform.
Presser and TikTok’s Melnick, who are also Jewish and live in the United States, were largely conciliatory at the meeting. “Obviously, a lot of what Sacha says is true,” Presser said after a pause. Presser said there was truth to Cohen’s comments, but then said there was no “magic button” to address all the concerns raised.
TikTok is urgently trying to address growing claims that it is promoting pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel content through its powerful feeds. Several Washington lawmakers have renewed calls to ban the app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, arguing that Beijing may be influencing content promoted through the platform’s algorithms.
Anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate speech has increased on many online services since the war between Israel and Hamas began. Anti-Semitic content spiked more than 919 percent on X and 28 percent on Facebook in the month since October 7. according to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group. TikTok has gained particular attention due to its ties to China and its powerful algorithm directs content to 150 million users in the United States.
“If we think back to October 7, the reason Hamas was able to behead young men and rape women was because they fed them images of when they were little children that led them to hate,” Cohen said at the meeting. He accused TikTok of feeding young people similarly inflammatory content.
“We recognize that this is an incredibly difficult and scary time for millions of people around the world and in our TikTok community,” TikTok said in a statement. “Our leadership has 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 hosted Wednesday’s meeting with creators in response to a open letter sent last week criticizing the company.
A TikTok user, who could not be identified through the recording, expressed disbelief at a “Letter to America” written by Osama bin Laden two decades ago that began going viral on TikTok this week and found some support among young Americans. In the letter, Bin Laden justified the murder of Americans and expressed his hatred toward the Jewish people and his anger toward Palestine.
The letter, the person said, had become the “talk of the app,” adding: “As far as current affairs are concerned right now, this trend must end. This app needs to ban this letter.”
Miriam EzaguiTikTok creator and nurse with 1.9 million followers, said some users were using some popular editing features on the site to twist her words in a video and send her waves of hate.
Presser said the use of tools to perpetuate hate was another “important signal” for the company to follow up on.
“We can do better,” he said.
Messing, who has more than 37,000 followers on TikTok, pressed executives about TikTok’s moderation of the pro-Palestinian slogan “from the river to the sea,” which many Americans see as a call to eradicate Israel. It has been deemed anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League and has appeared in messages and comments from many Jewish TikTok users, regardless of what they post.
Presser said the phrase was subject to interpretation by TikTok’s 40,000 moderators.
“When it is clear exactly what they mean – ‘kill the Jews, eradicate the State of Israel’ – that content is violative and we remove it,” he told the group. “Our approach until October 7, and to this day, has been that in cases where people use the phrase when it is not clear, when someone is just using it casually, then it is considered acceptable speech” .
The idea of the term being used “casually” bothered several participants.
Ms Messing called on the company to reconsider its stance, saying: “It’s much more responsible to ban it at this point than to say, ‘Oh, well, some people use it in a different way to how it was actually created.’ 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 hatred of Jews.”
Several creators asked why they couldn’t directly contact people on TikTok for help with harassment. One creator said that when she reported harassment, it took TikTok three to five days to respond.
Executives said that while TikTok used to have managers for each creator, 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, Presser said.
“Hearing that this place, this platform, this community that has brought so much joy and helped 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 feedback, this is where we hear what’s not working,” Presser said as he concluded the call. “Honestly, I’m embarrassed to say that much of this is new. “I haven’t heard much about that.”
