TikTok has appointed Erica Mindel, formerly associated with the Biden administration’s antisemitism envoy, as its new public policy manager for hate speech, a move sparking immediate controversy given the platform’s history as a “worst offender” in online Jew-hatred, fueled by viral conspiracy theories and a resurfaced Osama bin Laden letter.
In a highly scrutinized move, TikTok has appointed Erica Mindel, a former consultant for the Biden administration’s antisemitism envoy, as its new public policy manager for hate speech. The Washington Free Beacon first reported the internal appointment, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Mindel’s previous role involved working with Deborah Lipstadt, the US State Department’s Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism. Lipstadt herself has faced significant scrutiny for what critics perceive as a muted response and lack of forceful public condemnation regarding the surge of antisemitic campus protests that followed the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
This appointment comes at a critical time for TikTok, which has been under intense fire for its perceived failure to adequately address rampant antisemitic content on its platform. The Jewish Federations of North America has even branded TikTok the “worst offender” in the proliferation of online Jew-hatred, citing research suggesting that users who spend over 30 minutes daily on the app are significantly more prone to adopting antisemitic views.
The platform has been a fertile ground for disturbing instances of bigotry, including:
- Conspiracy theories about Jewish world domination.
- Offensive search suggestions like “Ashkenazi Jewish witchcraft Satanism.”
- The alarming viral spread in late 2023 of a letter by Osama bin Laden that blamed Jews for media and economic control, which TikTok later claimed to “aggressively” remove after widespread outrage.
Further compounding TikTok’s challenges are internal allegations from Jewish staff, who claim the company tolerates open bigotry and that some employees have used internal communication tools to support anti-Israel boycotts and express pro-terrorist sentiments.
Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), immediately questioned Mindel’s appointment, specifically highlighting Lipstadt’s controversial record. Klein pointed to Lipstadt’s support for the Biden administration’s antisemitism strategy, which he noted was developed in collaboration with groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization Klein has controversially described as “Hamas-linked.”
As of now, TikTok has not issued any public comment on Mindel’s appointment, and Mindel herself did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Free Beacon. This silence from the platform’s leadership is likely to intensify the scrutiny and debate surrounding its commitment to effectively combating hate speech, particularly antisemitism, on its globally influential platform.
