Pro-Nazi Content on TikTok: Study Uncovers Alarming Trends

Pro-Nazi Accounts Flourish on TikTok, Study Reveals

In a disturbing revelation, a new study conducted by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a global think tank, has uncovered that TikTok hosts a significant number of pro-Nazi accounts. The research identified a network of approximately 200 accounts actively promoting Nazi ideologies through various videos and content that glorify Nazism or incorporate Nazi symbols within their profiles. This troubling content has reportedly garnered tens of millions of views across the platform, featuring narratives that include Holocaust denial, the glorification of Adolf Hitler, and the promotion of Nazism as a purported solution to contemporary social issues.

According to the report, self-identified Nazis have stated that TikTok serves as an effective platform for disseminating their ideologies, allowing them to reach a far larger audience, even with newly created accounts that have minimal followers. The summary of the report underscores this alarming trend.

TikTok’s Response: No Violations Found

The ISD’s findings indicate that Nazi groups are leveraging generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to produce videos that create dehumanizing caricatures of non-white racial and ethnic groups. Additionally, some videos utilize AI-generated translations of Hitler’s speeches, modernizing the presentation of their propaganda. Certain music tracks, combined with Nazi imagery and coded language, enable these videos to evade detection by TikTok’s moderation systems, further complicating efforts to regulate harmful content.

TikTok’s community guidelines explicitly state that any content containing “stereotypes, insinuations, or indirect statements that may implicitly demean a protected group” will not be featured in the “For You” feed. Moreover, various forms of misinformation—including conspiracy theories and potentially harmful content—are subject to restriction. However, the guidelines do not explicitly mention Nazi-related content, raising concerns about the platform’s ability to effectively combat hate speech.

Researchers took proactive steps by reporting 50 of these identified accounts to TikTok for violating the platform’s guidelines concerning hateful ideologies. Regrettably, all reports returned with the response that there was “no violation” found on the accounts in question. Previous research has indicated that TikTok’s algorithm tends to promote misogynistic or otherwise hateful content to new users within minutes of their engagement with the app’s “For You Page.” In the ISD study, researchers created a dummy account to watch just 10 videos, leading them to 10 pro-Nazi accounts before similar content was suggested by the app.

A Coordinated Effort to Spread Hate

The study further highlights that Nazi-themed videos gain traction on TikTok due to coordinated efforts among activists on platforms like Telegram, which help in amplifying their reach. The report states, “[Pro-Nazi activists] are coordinating an effort to ‘juice’ videos through mass engagement; sharing downloadable videos, images, and sounds to disseminate on platforms like TikTok.”

One notable instance of this collaboration involves an activist Telegram account that actively promoted a neo-Nazi documentary, encouraging TikTok users to create reaction videos to further propagate the film. The channel urged its followers to promote the documentary widely, aiming to blanket TikTok with such content to boost its virality.

At the time of publication, Euronews Next had reached out to TikTok for comments regarding these alarming findings but had not received a response.