'Dear TikTok': Social media under fire as Israel-Hamas war inflames anti-Jewish hate

Jewish social media influencers are calling on TikTok to combat an alarming surge in antisemitism that they say is making the popular short-form video platform unsafe for the Jewish community.

“Your Jewish creators – who regularly enliven the For You page with videos of dancing, cooking, singing and positivity of all kinds – are being bombarded with abhorrent inhumanity solely due to our ethno-religious identity,” reads the "Dear TikTok" letter provided exclusively to USA TODAY.

The daily barrage of hate and harassment that regularly targets Jewish content creators on TikTok “has been compounded to unimaginable degrees” since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, according to the more than three dozen social media influencers and public figures who signed the letter.

Still reeling from grief at the Hamas attack on Israel and horror at the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents across the U.S., these TikTok influencers who collectively have tens of millions of followers say they have been flooded by so much anti-Jewish anger that they fear for their physical safety.

"As Jews, we are scared, distraught, and at a breaking point. This isn’t just 'digital harassment.' There are real world implications," the influencers who include comedian Amy Schumer and actress Debra Messing wrote. "We are scared to leave our homes. We feel compelled to hire armed security. We are frightened to post for fear of receiving more suffocating digital hate. We fear that only an unfathomable tragedy befalling a Jewish TikTok creator will lead to change. Is that what you are waiting for?”

The letter posted online Wednesday urges TikTok to beef up safety tools and content moderation systems to protect Jewish users as well as crack down on misinformation related to the Hamas attacks and the Israeli military assault on Gaza. Influencers also want a community manager for the Jewish community, similar to roles they say already exist for other minority groups.

Montana Tucker, a 30-year-old dancing and singing sensation on TikTok with 9.3 million followers, has collaborated with Paula Abdul and Jennifer Lopez. She’s also the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and captured her journey last year to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland in a docuseries “How To: Never Forget.”

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But the joy she used to experience on TikTok has turned to dread after the Hamas attacks.

“Every day I am getting death threats, saying your grandparents should have died and now it’s your turn and we are not going to stop until you die. Really, really terrible stuff. And I just don't know why the platforms are not doing more to protect us,” Tucker, 30, told USA TODAY. “Especially being a Jewish creator, it’s very, very, very scary and it doesn’t feel safe. And it doesn’t feel like the platforms have our backs.”

In a statement to USA TODAY, TikTok said it opposes antisemitism in all forms and is committed to fighting it. The company did not address the specific concerns expressed in the letter.

"We've taken important steps to protect our community and prevent the spread of hate, and we appreciate ongoing, honest dialogue and feedback as we continually work to strengthen these protections," the company said.

TikTok algorithms that spread Jewish culture now spreading antisemitism, influencers say

Ubiquitous on the devices that billions of young people carry in their hands and pockets, TikTok has become a popular creative space for Jewish influencers to express themselves, connect with other influencers and spread positive messages about Jewish culture and identity that counter harmful stereotypes about Jews and Judaism.

TikTok’s powerful algorithms and innovative features that recommend content have introduced a large audience to “JewTok,” launching the careers of Jewish influencers like Tucker.

But, like other social media platforms, TikTok can also be a breeding ground for extremist views.

While research into how TikTok’s algorithm amplifies antisemitic content is limited, studies have shown that extremist groups frequently use TikTok to foment dangerous messages and recruit members and that dog whistles, Holocaust denial and other antisemitic tropes are common there.

TikTok’s design promotes the swift dissemination of provocative content, allowing hateful or antisemitic content to gain visibility and potentially reach a wide audience, including through “stitch” videos – splicing together the original video to create a new video – or “duets” – posting your video side-by-side with a video from another creator, said Tom Divon, researcher at the Department of Journalism and Communication at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“So, if the Israel-Gaza war is trending nowadays, the algorithmic push might be much more forceful, leading users down a path of encountering more hate-filled content, that is far from borderline content, but explicit Jewish hostility,” Divon told USA TODAY in an email.

The Anti-Defamation League is in talks with company leadership and says TikTok has been responsive about content it has flagged. But troubling videos suggesting the Hamas massacre at the Supernova music festival in Israel was fabricated or exaggerated are circulating on TikTok, including one with more than 1.8 million views, said Yael Eisenstat, director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Tech and Society.

TikTok says it prohibits hate speech and harassment and removes hateful content and accounts and redirects hashtags and searches associated with hateful behavior. It also takes down content that contains antisemitism, Holocaust denial, misinformation and harmful stereotypes about Jewish communities, the company said.

Since Oct. 7, the company says it has removed over 775,000 videos and closed over 14,000 livestreams promoting violence, terrorism, hate speech, misinformation and other violations of its rules.

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Antisemitism is a daily reality on TikTok, social media influencers say

But Jewish influencers say antisemitism is a daily reality, whether or not their videos are related to Judaism.

“This hate and vitriol is not rare, spontaneous or unexpected. Sadly, rampant antisemitism is a common problem that TikTok has failed to address for far too long,” they wrote.

Jewish TikTok influencers met with two members of the company’s public policy team on Oct. 19 to urge TikTok to take action, but they heard nothing more, Eitan Bernath told USA TODAY.

When he leaves his apartment, Bernath says he hides his identity behind a COVID face mask and dark sunglasses. He has armed security escort him to public events.

“This letter is not meant to be ‘We hate TikTok.’ Every single person who is signing this letter loves TikTok and owes much of their career and probably life to the existence of TikTok. Everyone signing this letter acknowledges and appreciates the good that TikTok has done for the Jewish community in being able to spread Jewish positivity and Jewish education across the internet,” said Bernath, 21, a chef and entertainer with 2.3 million followers on TikTok. “But as people who contribute to the ecosystem, we just expect better.”

With 1.9 million followers, Miriam Ezagui is one of the most popular Jewish Orthodox content creators on TikTok. She delighted in the warm and positive reactions to her videos that explain why she covers her hair or why she keeps kosher. Then she shared her raw emotions about the Hamas attacks in Israel. Death threats against her and her family have become so serious, she contacted the FBI.

“I am mourning the loss of that environment,” said Ezagui, a 37-year-old nurse and mother. “There’s a war on the ground and there’s also a social media war right now. Being out in the public eye, I am very much at the front and center of it and I feel it.”

Ellie Zeiler got started on TikTok as a high school student three years ago during the COVID quarantine. Today, her account with videos about everything from nighttime skin care to workouts for toned abs reaches nearly 11 million followers.

Zeiler, 19, says she has a simple wish, to post on TikTok without someone telling her to kill herself. She also wants to spare her followers from being pelted by the hateful comments directed at her.

In a post this week, she explained a new image spreading on social media that reads “would you hide me?” a reference to Jews saved from the Nazis by non-Jews and the growing fears of another Holocaust.

“You guys just love to play victim, don’t you,” a commenter responded.

“TikTok is my whole life truly. It’s my favorite thing to do. It’s what I love to do every single day,” Zeiler said. “But right now when I go onto my TikTok app, it feels like TikTok doesn’t love us the same way we love TikTok.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: As Israel-Hamas war inflames antisemitism, TikTok stars demand action