President Herzog met today (Tuesday) with senior representatives of social media giant TikTok to discuss the problem of fake news and anti-semitic material being spread around the network without effective moderation.
The executives were presented with evidence that this material was either not taken down or only removed after an extended period of time and included "shocking and graphic content, distinctly antisemitic expressions and narratives, denial and disdain for the Holocaust."
They responded by saying they had removed 160 million "fake accounts" spreading antisemitism and hatred, and pledged to continue working with the Israeli government to put an end to the problem.
Herzog ended by saying that "We must fight lies and hatred wherever we find them: on the streets and online on social networks in order to prevent the manipulation of and negative impact on public opinion among the next generation around the world."
Jewish Insider had previously reported that Barak Hershkowitz, TikTok's top liaison with the Israeli government, resigned last month in protest against what he considered a highly biased moderation approach to material published on the platform, including allowing lots of anti-Israel material to be freely posted while material on the hostages was taken down for being "too political." He also said that moderators at the platform often showed a pro-terror bias in internal chats.
