Sacha Baron Cohen blasts TikTok for being the 'main platform for the dissemination of Jew hate'

Jewish celebrities and content creators claim that TikTok has become a breeding ground for anti-Semitism in wake of the Israel-Hamas war. They lashed out at executives during a meeting on Wednesday and demanded action be taken to address the issue through stricter content moderation policies.

Actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who is most famously known for his role as "Borat," accused TikTok of creating "the biggest antisemitic movement since the Nazis," according to meeting records obtained by The New York Times.

"If you think back to Oct. 7, the reason why Hamas were able to behead young people and rape women was they were fed images when they were small kids that led them to hate," Cohen continued.

The British celebrity informed the TikTok executives that there is no excuse for allowing statements like "Hitler was right" and "I hope you end up like Anne Frank" on its platform. He said that comments such as these could simply be addressed by "flipping a switch."

"Shame on you!" the actor snapped at execs. The virtual meeting also included Jewish actresses Debra Messing and Amy Schumer.

TikTok's head of operations, Adam Presser, and global head of user operations, Seth Melnick, told Cohen that they are aware of the issue but it's not something that can be fixed with a "magic button." The two executives are both Jewish, according to The Times.

"Obviously a lot of what Sacha says, there's truth to that," Presser said to the irate celebs. "We can do better."

Actress Debra Messing, who is most famously known for the hit sitcom "Will and Grace," pleaded to executives to ban phrases such as "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." The controversial pro-Palestinian phrase has been criticized for its true meaning. Many say it is a call to "eradicate Israel" and "terminate the Jews." The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) claims the phrase is anti-Semitic on its website.

Presser told Messing that since that phrase has been interpreted by more than 40,000 users on its platform, the content is "considered acceptable speech" due to current content policies.

The TikTok exec explained that, "Where it is clear exactly what they mean — 'kill the Jews, eradicate the state of Israel' — that content is violative and we take it down," but for instances "where people use the phrase where it is not clear, where someone is just using it casually, then that has been considered acceptable speech."

Messing argued with the executives and pleaded for them to change its policies.
 

"It is much more reasonable to bar it at this juncture than to say, 'Oh, well, some people, they use it in a different way that it was actually created to mean," Messing said. "I understand that you are in a very, very difficult and complicated place, but you also are the main platform for the dissemination of Jew hate."

Others involved in the meeting expressed grievances surrounding the amount of time it takes for TikTok to address anti-Semitic harassment. One user explained that it took up to five days for TikTok to address the complaint, according to The New York Times.

Presser blamed it on a lack of staffing and said they are working to resolve the issue.

The New York Post reports that the virtual meeting had been organized after the same group of Jewish celebrities and content creators sent an open letter to TikTok condemning anti-Semitism on its platform.

TikTok has been in the national spotlight this week after shocking videos began to surface on the platform. Users have been praising al-Queda terrorist Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, for his 2002 "Letter to America," which has now been viewed more than 10 million times on the platform.

The letter was an explanation of the ideology that led him to orchestrate the 9/11 terrorist attacks but also included an assessment that the US, and Israel, are responsible for attacks on their own nations. Osama Bin Laden also praised the Palestinians in the letter. It began to surface due to the same rhetoric coming out of pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have been popping up around the world.