How Tibetan women educate people about Jewish life
Rica Allam shares her life as a Jew in Germany in short videos on Tiktok. On the short video platform, the 31-year-old explains to her around 36,000 followers, for example, what her family serves on Shabbat, how to bake challah - a braided bread - in rainbow colors and which traditions are part of the Jewish Sukkot festival. According to the platform, some videos are viewed more than 100,000 times.
However, the clips also include a recording with more serious content: Allam responds to a comment that someone left under one of her videos. One user wrote that she should visit her family in "Munich Buchenwald", alluding to the concentration camp. Allam replied curtly: "Unfortunately, I can't do that because Buchenwald is in Weimar". Between 1937 and 1945, the National Socialists imprisoned more than a quarter of a million people in Buchenwald concentration camp, around 56,000 of whom died in custody due to the catastrophic conditions or were killed.
She does not usually report such comments to the police, says Allam in an interview with the German Press Agency. But in this case she did. "I don't want to go to court, that's not my goal at all. I just want it to be a wake-up call that you can't post everything on the internet and expect it to be okay for everyone."
Allam had the idea for the Tiktok videos because she often encountered ignorance and prejudice from other people when she told them that she was Jewish. She was also unaware of any German-Jewish Tiktokers. "With Tiktok, I can give a really good insight into Jewish life," she thought to herself.
Leading medium for a young generation
For many users, the former entertainment platform has long since become a place for further education. Organizations and individual content creators who produce videos want to reach young people where they spend a lot of time anyway - and where disinformation can often be found. Simplicity is also important to Allam. You don't have to write or plan much on Tiktok, she says: "Theoretically, you can just talk into the camera."
Eva Berendsen, spokesperson for the Anne Frank Educational Center, also knows how important Tiktok is for political education and the fight against anti-Semitism. "Tiktok is the leading medium for a young generation," she explains. The educational institution wants to raise awareness on Tiktok with the awareness campaign #GemeinsamgegenAntisemitismus and counteract anti-Semitic incitement and conspiracy narratives. Allam is part of the campaign.
Anti-Semitism on the platform
Even though anti-Semitism on Tiktok is not a new phenomenon, the situation has worsened dramatically in recent weeks, explains Berendsen. "Much of what we are currently seeing on our For You pages is blatant hatred of Israel, blatant anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Israel and the retaliatory attack on the Gaza Strip," she says. Individual Jewish Tiktokers who are involved in the awareness-raising campaign have reported massive hostility in some cases.
Tiktok is often about "high tempo, sensory overload and bold messages", explains Berendsen. This plays into the hands of anti-democrats with a simplistic view of the world. Educational work, on the other hand, faces enormous challenges. Because balanced, differentiated content often takes more time.
Violent content performs better
"The platforms prefer content that generates a high level of interaction - and that is often hateful and violent content," explains Monika Hübscher. She researches anti-Semitism in social networks at the Universities of Duisburg-Essen and Haifa. Anti-Semitic or terrorist content is disseminated by the algorithms, "even if it actually violates the platforms' guidelines". The researcher is concerned about the current flood of violent images from the Middle East. These are mixed with targeted disinformation campaigns by various actors.
Counteracting the hate
However, Hübscher believes that we should not be discouraged by the fact that positive content almost always gets less coverage than negative content. It is important not to comment on hateful or even terrorist images and videos and instead express solidarity with Jews online. "If you combine this with the right hashtags, you can also generate attention."
Susanne Siegert also counteracts the hate, hate speech and disinformation that often circulate by raising awareness. The 31-year-old from Leipzig provides information about the Holocaust on Tiktok, but also focuses on the present - for example by explaining why certain emojis or number codes have an anti-Semitic background. "That's where I see the most potential for discussion and the greatest reach, because it simply plays a big role in the lives of many young people."
Since the Hamas attack on Israel, the tone of her videos has also become harsher. She deletes many comments - "because these are things where I don't want to get into a discussion," explains Siegert. As an example, she cites comparisons that users draw between the Holocaust and Israel's counter-attacks in the Gaza Strip.
Appeal to the platform operators
Siegert would like to see more straightforward guidelines from Tiktok and more consistency in their enforcement. She repeatedly sees Nazi symbols in profile pictures or Nazi slogans in profile descriptions, where she thinks: "This is really clearly anti-Semitic: why isn't the moderation system working?"
Tiktoker Allam also believes the platform has a duty to flag videos with obvious misinformation. Allam would like users to "take some of the burden off the creators' shoulders, so that they don't feel so alone in the fight in the comment column". Users could also report or report anti-Semitic comments.
- Despite the positive use of Tiktok to promote Jewish culture and combat ignorance, the platform has become a breeding ground for anti-Semitism, particularly anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Israel and the Gaza Strip.
- The Anne Frank Educational Center, recognizing Tiktok's influence on young people, has launched an awareness campaign #GemeinsamgegenAntisemitismus to counteract anti-Semitism on the platform.
- Monika Hübscher, researching anti-Semitism in social networks, suggests not engaging with hateful content, but instead expressing solidarity with Jews online and using relevant hashtags to generate attention for positive content.
Source: www.dpa.com
