Hitler's translated speeches have gone so viral on TikTok that the social media platform is now redirecting users to a "Facts About The Holocaust" page.
Media Matters for America, a nonprofit watchdog journalism organization, reported that AI-generated English-language clips from Hitler's speeches were garnering millions of views and thousands of comments despite the platform's strict community guidelines against hate speech and hateful behavior.
The organization included links and embedded videos to show TikTok users mouthing along to Hitler speeches or using them as a backdrop for images of the dictator. One user even created "an AI-generated image of a white, blond girl in a Union Jack T-shirt standing in the middle of a bus and crying while surrounded by laughing nonwhite people in hijabs and taqiyahs" to use with an AI-translated Hitler audio.
Now, when users search terms such as "Hitler Speeches," a message appears telling the user to "Get the facts." Upon clicking "Learn more," they're redirected to a "Facts About The Holocaust" page run by World Jewish Congress and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Under a tweet from AF Post about Hitler trending on TikTok, one users said the redirect was "weird" and accused TikTok of "trying to hide history" while another said, "Banning nazi propaganda and holocaust denial is a good thing actually."
According to Forward, TikTok users are further evading moderators by using euphemisms such as "mustache man," "the great painter" and "the Austrian painter" to look up and share these AI-generated videos and then spread trending snippets from longer videos. Forward added that moderating "trending sounds," which are clips taken from longer videos, is especially difficult because the speaker is unidentified and the content doesn't always include prohibited terms.
AI-generated sounds also present another hurdle for social media moderators. Per Forward, "the use of AI to read Hitler's speeches in English allowed the speeches to be produced quickly and reposted in a slightly different version if they're removed, avoiding TikTok's regulations."
Despite this type of content continuing to proliferate on the app, Media Matters reported at least one account mentioned in its report was removed from TikTok.
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