Misguided TikTok users are using AI to translate speeches by Adolf Hitler into English, garnering millions of clicks on the much-criticized platform, a watchdog group has reported.
Users have promoted and even praised the rhetoric of Nazi leaders, in clear violation of TikTok’s guidelines, which prohibit “promoting (including praising, congratulating, or sharing manifestos) or offering material support to individuals who incite serial or mass violence or spread hateful ideologies.”
One disturbing video was viewed more than a million times before being removed, Media Matters reported last week.
The watchdog report said the video, which shows Hitler giving a speech set to slow instrumental music, suggested that the ruthless killer did not want to provoke conflict during World War II, tried to spare the lives of women and children and waited to attack until he had no other choice.
The caption accompanying the clip reads: “Just listen.”
Murderous Nazi leader’s speech heard on TikTok. Bettman Archive
Media Matters has detailed other instances where Nazi-themed videos have been rampant across social media apps.
Another video, which was eventually removed, showed a cliff by water as a different, translated speech played.
The video has reportedly received 270,000 views and 22,700 likes, with comments such as, “AH was a good and kind person,” and “My view of him has changed.”
The account has more than 20,000 followers and has garnered nearly 4 million views on 12 videos that include speeches by Hitler, a profile of Hitler and the statement, “Part of growing up is knowing who the real villains were.”
In a statement to The Washington Post late Tuesday, a TikTok spokesperson said the social media app “removed nearly all of the videos identified in the Media Matters report as violating our community guidelines.”
“We also proactively removed over 1,300 pieces of related content, and removed the remaining content today,” the spokesperson continued.
“We have a zero-tolerance stance against hateful content on our platform and consistently remove over 90% of it before it is reported.”
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Some users condemned the Hitler-themed videos, and some were removed while others remained up after being reported by Media Matters.
Meanwhile, Sky News found more than 50,000 TikTok posts between September 2 and 3 that featured speeches by Hitler and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
Additionally, many of Hitler’s insane rants were set, without permission, to popular music on the platform known as “driftfonk” in order to attract more users, the outlet reported.
One post featured an image of Hitler speaking at the Nuremberg rally and was liked by more than 56,000 users. One comment infamously stated, “We desperately need Hitler in today’s society.”
Pastel Ghost, one of the artists whose music has been appropriated without his knowledge, told Sky News that it was “shocking and deplorable” and that he was searching for videos of his music being used on the site.
Sky News reported that the platform’s sound feature makes it harder for the company to identify inappropriate videos that are mixed with Nazi-inspired content.
After submitting the hateful video to TikTok, a spokesperson told Sky News the content was quickly removed for violating policies.
“We regularly train our safety experts and update our safety practices to continually detect hateful conduct, and we remove 91% of this type of content before it is reported to us,” the spokesperson said.
