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TikTok refuses to remove Holocaust tattoo 'joke' video
EXCLUSIVE: The JC has also seen two other antisemitic TikTok videos
May 19, 2020 17:16
EXCLUSIVE: The JC has also seen two other antisemitic TikTok videos
May 19, 2020 17:16A video attempting to poke fun at the tattoos given to Jews inside the Nazi death camps does not contravene the “Community Guidelines” of TikTok, the social media platform has confirmed to the JC.
A spokesperson said the video - which shows a man said to be Jewish rolling up his sleeve to display a number tattoo on his arm - was not found to be in violations of rules on unacceptable content for the company, which is now worth £61 billion.
The JC revealed on Monday how the video had been uploaded onto TikTok by a man named Bradley Cooper who claimed it was “just a joke” and “not me hating a religion.”
Mr Cooper, from Kent, also claimed Jewish users of TikTok had liked the video, which had more than 600, 000 views, after it was uploaded onto the platform last month.
But the JC has been sent examples of other videos aired on TikTok, which is popular amongst school children and teenagers across the globe, that openly joke about the Holocaust or involve Nazi themes.
Another video set to music included the subtitles “What is bald and 100 metres long?”
An answer then appears: “The queue outside Aushtwich (sic)”
The video, which shows two girls in school uniform, features the hashtag “darkhumor” and “holocaust”.
Meanwhile a second video, this time featuring a teenage boy, has the subtitles: ”Me finishing my shower.”
Another young male is then shown standing waiting with the words “German guard”.
TikTok has been criticised recently over its decision to allow other videos containing racist messages directed towards the black, Muslim and Asian communities.
And in December 2018, an article in Vice magazine exposed TikTok accounts that included messages stating “kill all n*****”, “all jews must die”.
TikTok's recently updated community guidelines state that the application removes content, via human and virtual moderation, that “attacks or incites violence against an individual or group of individuals on the basis of protected attributes" and further suspends profiles that violate the rules.
The company notes specific examples, including claiming a specific group is criminal; referring negatively to a group as animals, inanimate objects, or other non-human entities; and promoting or justifying exclusion, segregation, or discrimination against them.