TikTok’s threat is real

The video-sharing app TikTok is no stranger to controversy. Doubts over the security of its software have already led to bans on its use on government devices in the UK and the US. Events in recent days, however, suggest we should perhaps be equally concerned about the content it makes available.

Since the appalling events of October 7, TikTok has come under intense criticism for hosting anti-Semitic content glorifying Hamas, and videos praising Osama bin Laden’s “letter to America”, which argued that the situation in Palestine must be “revenged” by violence against “Americans and Jews”. Videos with this hashtag have been viewed a collective 13 million times. The actor Sacha Baron Cohen has now warned that the company is “creating the biggest anti-Semitic movement since the Nazis”. 

The comments were made in a call following an open letter from Jewish celebrities and influencers stating that the app “is not safe for Jewish users”. 

TikTok has denied that its algorithm is pushing propaganda towards impressionable users, and it is hardly alone among social media companies in facing accusations of hosting disinformation. 

It stands out, however, in its influence on younger people. Ofcom has found that the app is the most popular news source for children aged between 12 and 15, and that it is used by some 85 per cent of those aged between 16 and 24. 

Social media is rarely a place for profitable political discussion, but in the current crisis it has provided a vector for the spread of stories reducing complex questions to black and white issues, with frighteningly simple answers. Disinformation about Israeli actions in the current conflict, or about the state’s history, is alarmingly widespread, and its consequences can be seen in those duped into cheering on Hamas from afar.

A well-informed electorate is vital to the functioning of democracy. It is hard to say that TikTok is making a positive contribution to its development in the next generation.