Sada Social Center expresses its deep concern and strong condemnation regarding TikTok’s appointment of Erica Mindel—a former instructor in the Israeli army’s Armored Corps—as the platform’s new Manager of Hate Speech Policy.
According to reports reviewed by Sada Social, Mindel previously worked with the U.S. State Department under Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the Biden Administration’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism. Prior to that, she served as an instructor in the Israeli army’s Spokesperson’s Unit. In her new role, Mindel will be tasked with formulating TikTok’s hate speech policies, shaping relevant legislative and regulatory frameworks, and monitoring trends—particularly those related to antisemitic content.
Sada Social views this appointment as a highly concerning indicator for the future of digital freedoms for Palestinians. The center warns of the serious implications that Mindel’s military background may have on TikTok’s moderation practices, especially regarding Palestinian reports of incitement, bias, and the silencing of their narrative. Assigning someone affiliated with an army currently under international investigation for genocide in Gaza to lead hate speech policy only entrenches existing biases and undermines the principles of fairness and digital justice.
Sada Social’s 2024 Digital Index revealed that 27% of all digital violations targeting Palestinian content occurred on TikTok. According to TikTok’s own transparency report for the second half of 2024, the platform complied with 94% of the Israeli government’s content removal requests, all while imposing strict censorship on Palestinian content. This included the deletion of videos with clear journalistic value, and the targeting of accounts belonging to journalists, media outlets, activists, and supporters of the Palestinian cause.
Sada Social also underscores that TikTok has failed to undertake any meaningful internal review of its policies, even after the South African government submitted video evidence to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)—footage that was published on TikTok and depicted Israeli soldiers celebrating the destruction of Palestinian homes, mocking victims, and writing messages on bombs before they were dropped on Gaza. Instead of responding to these disturbing violations, TikTok has continued its partnerships with a political and military regime currently under international investigation.
no longer will there be rampant, disorganized hate speech, instead there will be structured, well trained hate speech
Hiring a terrorist instructor as it’s hate speech manager will surely go well
She is not a terrorist as national militaries do not commit acts of terrorism. National militaries commit war crimes thus she is a war criminal not a terrorist. Terrorists might have some degree of legitimacy behind their actions which war criminals do not have.
If “national militaries do not commit acts of terrorism” (source?), the IDF, by that definition, is not a national military. There is no definition of terrorism that excludes the IDF’s actions during the last 75 years
Go look up what defines “terrorism” it’s non-nation states engaging in political violence.
Armies commit war crimes. This is entry level IR stuff.
I hope you find comfort outside of bullshit semantic arguments
I think we agree on a more substantial level so I’m happy to leave it at that
This isn’t a matter of semantics. You cannot charge IDF soldiers with terrorism you can and should push for their prosecution for crimes against humanity and/or war crimes. It is important to make the right claims as to what laws are violated so you appear informed when making these demands.
I’m not charging them, but you’re right
Hate speech manager
Manager to increase hate speech?
To ensure the correct kind of hate speech is allowed.
brb gonna sign up on TikTok and do a “TikTok ban any%” speedrun by posting “free Palestine” and “Israel is committing genocide” vids
This is the natural progression.
They started hiring a bunch of natsec ghouls when Trump tried to ban them in 2020, and increased it under Biden when the dems jumped on the “tiktik is spying on you! Evil CCP is turning the youth into communists!” Bandwagon, and started algo boosting right-wing content under Trump pt II.
when the dems jumped on the “tiktik is spying on you! Evil CCP is turning the youth into communists!”
TikTok IS spying on you.
But it’s true that the evil CCP is no longer communist: just totalitarian crony capitalist.
TikTok IS spying on you.
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No more so than any other social media app, and as someone who lived in America at the time, China having my data was far less threatening than America having my data.
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Tiktok duplicated their server infrastructure just for America so no American data would leave the country.
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See the thing about boosting what the state department wanted boosted and censoring what they told them to censo. Tiktok isn’t Chinese propaganda, it’s American propaganda.
But it’s true that the evil CCP is no longer communist: just totalitarian crony capitalist.
The CPC’s tendency to favor the working class over capital suggests otherwise; they’ve raised a billion people out of poverty, while India is a net exporter of food but still has children dying of hunger-related diseases. When a baby formula factory in China killed or sickened a dozen babies due to greed and gross negligence, they took the executives out back and shot them, and opened the market up to foreign imports. When the same thing happened in the US, nobody went to jail and the US didn’t even approve EU imports of formula because that would hurt the profits of the company that had just murdered literal babies.
I would never call China a utopia, but you have to actually understand a thing if you want to make meaningful criticisms of it.
The difference is China is making an attemt to improve things for most people and Western “democracies” have abandoned this.
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JFC, it’s as though they were going out of their way to hire the most inappropriate person possible for the role.
Cool, they got SLAMMED!. That’ll learn them.
Been a while since we had a good slamming.
This headline seems disingenuous in a way, since IDF service is mandatory. It could be any Israeli, with any set of beliefs. I haven’t read enough about this person to know what their stance on things actually is, but this really seems like a bad faith headline.
Later in the article it says that Tiktok has complied with 94% of the Israeli government takedown requests and it’s also been blocking pro-Palestine content. So it’s not even a slight reach to assume that they’re gunna hire someone with similar views.
This is very fair. I still think that the headline is predominantly click bait, though.
She was an instructor, that fits beyond mandatory service
deleted by creator
Any speech not in favor of Tik Tok will be considered anti-semitic. You’re either with the Tide pod challenge or you’re racist!
Well, that explains my ban
Israel has mandatory service.
They could have just said “Israeli” but that wouldn’t get as many clicks.
She was an instructor of the Armored Corps
Yes they have mandatory service, but she was a lot extra
And?
She could always reject as a conscientious objector. Fuck genocide!
Imagine getting swerved by the Taylor Swift Fan Page lmfao.
OK this is kind of stupid. I am pretty sure all people in Israel are required to serve in the Military for a couple years. Her real crime is simply being born Israeli. If that’s your problem…say that.
And they get to become instructors in such short time?
The Nazis had a draft… With damn near 100% draft rate
Do you think that made it ok because under German law they had to?
Because during much of the war, if they objected they were just shot.
So surely, if jail is an excuse, your logic dictates that you also excuse every Nazi from what they did and you don’t judge any of them…
Unless there’s an inconsistency with your logic for some reason
Most people tho, think jail for a couple months is better than participating in a genocide. But everyone’s personal values are different.
Not all are. If you are clergy, often Ultra-Orthodox, you get exempted.
