It's no secret. Unless you are (possibly) living under a rock, you've probably heard of Tik Tok, or you may even have it downloaded onto your phone. (However, after reading this article, you might think a bit differently about having the application on your phone).
However, in case you haven't heard of Tik Tok, Tik Tok is basically a mobile application where users can share user-generated videos. (It was originally called musical.ly).
But, (unfortunately) Tik Tok is also a pretty intolerant place as well, and it's pretty toxic. Young girls or celebrities such as Madison Beer and Charli D'Amelio have reported a lot of mental health problems since using the application due to receiving a lot of hate comments.
Tik Tok is also a place where censorship occurs with individuals who have more right wing viewpoints as well.
The same amounts of intolerance can be said about students such as Julia Massey, who, (before) she posted her first Tik Tok about being Jewish, she questioned her motives behind wanting to even post a Tik Tok in the first place. But, after she posted more Tik Toks about being Jewish, people flooded her comment sections with anti-semitic slurs, (some of these slurs were even used by the Nazi's during the Holocaust unfortunately).
This isn't just one experience of Jewish teens feeling unsafe on Tik Tok, or experiencing anti-semitism. According to NBC News, About a half dozen of Jewish teens said that they experience anti-semitism nearly every time they post on the application.
A lot of the time, comments flood content created by Jewish Tik Tokkers with Palestinian Flags, or with the slogan "Free Palestine". And, while everyone has a right to their opinion, comments like these are plastered all over Tik Toks made by Jewish creators that (sometimes) aren't even about Judaism or Israel whatsoever, and (basically) that in itself is anti-semitic.
In an interview NBC News did with a few Jewish Tik Tok creators, one student said, "It is absolutely legitimate to criticize Israel for its human rights abuses, just like it's legitimate to criticize any other state ... but when somebody is posting, let's say, their bat mitzvah dress or when somebody is putting up a picture of their family's Passover Seder or when somebody is just talking about their own Jewish pride ... when the response is 'Free Palestine,' what that respondent is saying is 'your Judaism doesn't matter at all,'" said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, executive director of T'ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization. She said that those comments imply that those creators have no identity as Jews apart from the state of Israel and that they would fall under the definition of anti-semitism".
One thing that is interesting though, is that Tik Tok recently stated that it doesn't tolerate "hate in any form", (this hypocritically according to Tik Tok also includes the IHRA basic definition of anti-semitism).
What is also really heartbreaking to me personally, is that Jewish teen such as Charlotte Baer, who's a 17 year old from New York, said that she has never really PUBLICLY experienced anti-semitism in person, but she noted that as soon as she started being open about her Judaism online, she began receiving floods of disgusting anti-semitic comments.
Holocaust Denial on Tik Tok is also highly seen on the application as well.
According to NBC News as well, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found posts on Tik Tok and other social media outlets that link to anti-semitic algorithms that (also) actively promote Holocaust Denial as well.
On Tik Tok as well, there are Tik Tokkers who actively post content that disgustingly mock the Holocaust. One Tik Tok in particular that made me personally sick to my stomach was a girl who dressed up IN COSTUME (with makeup too) as a person in a Concentration Camp. There, she made gruesome jokes where she even laughed about people and how they looked in Concentration Camps... A few days later, after many people in the comment section were rightfully furious and upset, she created another video of her acting sad and apologizing to the camera, where this content creator also stated that "she didn't mean to offend anyone" and she "didn't mean to upset people, she just wanted to "entertain".
But, if this was really her intent, why would she make the Tik Tok in the first place, where she kind of knew that she did something disgusting?
And why is this the narrative that most anti-semites have when they get caught BEING anti-semitic?
Jewish teens already feel isolated and unsafe enough, whether its on their college or high school campus, or just strolling around the city, or in the workplace and we need more non-Jewish allies speaking up for them.
The Jewish community in America and throughout the world deserve our support and they deserve more people to try and speak up for them.