(JTA) — The popular TikTok video-sharing service has joined the European Union’s code of conduct against hate speech.
TikTok joins Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube, as well as Instagram, Snapchat and Dailymotion, in signing on to the code, which was established in 2016. Under the code, a platform agrees to validate illegal hate speech and remove it within 24 hours.
According to the EU’s last round of monitoring in June, the companies on average are now assessing 90% of flagged content within the required time frame and 71% of the content deemed illegal hate speech was removed.
TikTok, based in China, has gained popularity with its short videos of users dancing and lip syncing, among other talents.
Anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers and other far-right extremists are going on the social media platform to reach young people, researchers from the University of Haifa and Israel’s Institute for Counter Terrorism found in a report titled “Spreading Hate on TikTok” released in June.
A recent trend among teens is to pretend to be Holocaust victims, including stage makeup, yellow stars and concentration camp inmate garb.
Late last month, a U.S. Army officer who also is popular on TikTok was suspended, pending the results of an investigation, after posting a video in which he jokes about the Holocaust.
Meanwhile, senior TikTok officials met with Israeli officials on Tuesday night to discuss how to better combat hate speech, anti-Semitism and incitement on the site. The meeting was arranged by the Strategic Affairs Ministry, The Jerusalem Post reported.
