This is how TikTok tackles fake news about Hamas’s attack on Israel. In Poland, the ruling party PiS is in charge, but the opposition is celebrating its election victory

Disinformation regarding the Hamas attack on Israel is increasing on social media. The European Commission therefore warned TikTok and asked the online service to take action against the fake news within 24 hours.

“We have information that TikTok is being used to spread illegal content and disinformation in the EU,” EU Digital Affairs Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote to Tiktok boss Shou Zi Chew. Because minors in particular often use TikTok as a source of information about current events, “reliable sources must be appropriately distinguished from terrorist propaganda.”

Similar warnings were also issued to X (formerly Twitter), YouTube and Facebook parent company Meta. But the TikTok platform in particular has a “special responsibility” to children and young people to protect them from violent videos, such as hostage situations. Such content “circulates widely on TikTok, without appropriate protective measures,” Breton reported. “Illegal content” was not removed by TikTok in a timely manner.

TikTok wants to remove more content

TikTok reported in a blog post on Sunday, announcing that it had removed “infringing content and accounts”:

TikTok has listed numerous measures to “protect the platform during the war between Israel and Hamas.” For example, the online service has set up a command center where some employees meet with security experts to “respond flexibly to this rapidly developing crisis.” Plus, there’s more now Moderators who speak Arabic and Hebrew to better review critical content.

TikTok wants it too further develop automatic recognition software in real time. This means identifying and removing violent content without exposing TikTok employees or community members to the graphic images.

In addition to removing content that glorifies violence, TikTok also plans to block hashtags “that encourage violence or otherwise violate our rules.” According to its own information, TikTok has since done that Attack on October 7, 2023 « over 500,000 videos removed and 8,000 live streams closed in the affected region» because they violated the platform’s guidelines.