Short video app Tiktok, announced on Sunday that it immediately mobilized resources and personnel to counter hate and misinformation emerging after the attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. This came in response to the EU’s warning to the platform about illegal content and misinformation calling for CEO Shou Zi Chew to respond within 24 hours.
The social media company emphasized its commitment to transparency and declared it would work to provide a safe and secure space for its global community. It vowed to stay focused on supporting free expression, upholding human rights, and protecting its platform during the Israel-Hamas war.
In an attempt to mitigate the spread of misinformation through its platform, Tiktok has laid out a list of community guidelines that are in line with its crisis management process for reporting on the unfolding events.
As a part of the guidelines, Tiktok will be adding more moderators who speak Arabic and Hebrew to review content related to the events and will be deploying front-line moderators to assess content. They will also continue to enforce policies against violence, hate, and harmful misinformation by taking action to remove violative content and accounts. For example, the platform will remove content that supports the attacks or mocks victims affected by the violence.
If the content posted depicts a person who has been taken hostage, the platform has committed to doing everything in its power to protect the dignity and remove the content that breaks any of the content regulations.
Additionally, Tiktok will also make temporary adjustments to policies that govern TikTok features in an effort to proactively prevent them from being used for hateful or violent behavior in the region.
Furthermore, the platform will be engaging with experts across the industry and civil society, such as Tech Against Terrorism and their Advisory Councils, to further safeguard and secure their platform during these difficult times.
The social media company emphasized its commitment to transparency and declared it would work to provide a safe and secure space for its global community. It vowed to stay focused on supporting free expression, upholding human rights, and protecting its platform during the Israel-Hamas war.
In order to carry this task out, the platform will be working closely with IFCN– an accredited fact-checking organization that supports over 50 languages, including Arabic and Hebrew.
The company will also be rolling out reminders in Search for certain keywords in Hebrew, Arabic, and English to encourage the TikTok community to be aware of potential misinformation and to encourage users to consult authoritative sources.
According to a notable news source, Aljazeera  – social media platforms have been swamped with fake news with Twitter getting the worst backlash.