TikTok says it has acted to curb disinformation amid Israel-Hamas war

Photo: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

The Guardian
TikTok has said it has assigned more people to combat disinformation on its platform after the attack on Israel by Hamas after the European Union chastised the social media company.

The company, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, said in a statement it had “immediately mobilised significant resources and personnel to help maintain the safety of our community and integrity of our platform”, and that it had removed more than 500,000 videos and closed 8,000 live streams in the region.

Social media companies have repeatedly come under scrutiny during periods of war, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fighting over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, and now the war between Hamas and Israel.

TikTok said it had launched a command centre to look at the latest conflict, updated its automated detection systems to look for graphic and violent content, and added an unspecified number of moderators who speak Arabic and Hebrew. It has also restricted live broadcasts “given the heightened safety risk in the context of the current hostage situation”. MORE