TikTok videos will share testimonials, educate against denial & raise awareness
New York, NY, May 6, 2024 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today launched a new social media campaign geared toward Gen Z consumers of social media. The campaign, with an emphasis on TikTok and other video platforms, will highlight and promote survivor testimonials and messages from several TikTok creators, with an aim to counter Holocaust denial and misinformation.
The new ADL campaign is being timed to Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 5-6, and scheduled to run throughout the month of May, which is Jewish American Heritage Month. Prominent TikTok creators recruited for the effort include Ellie Zeiler, Eitan Bernath, Montana Tucker, Carly Weinstein, and Tova and Aron Friedman.
A report issued last year by ADL found that social media and online game platforms are failing to effectively moderate and remove Holocaust denial content from their platforms, with no platform scoring higher than a “C+.” Recent surveys have shown that many Americans lack basic facts about the Holocaust. Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory claiming that Jews fabricated evidence of their own genocide for political, personal and financial gain.
“At a time when denial is rising and general knowledge about the events of the Holocaust is diminishing, particularly among young people, there’s a need to reach this demographic with video testimonials and factual information about the murder of the six million,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “An important focus will be on misinformation: Our creators will help young people to learn how to spot the lies, spread facts, and not repeat or share things about the Holocaust that are false.”
With the theme of “Spot Lies. Spread Facts,” the campaign is further supported with educational materials from Echoes & Reflections, a multimedia educational curriculum created by ADL, the USC Shoah Foundation and Yad Vashem. The influencer campaign is part of a larger, ongoing effort to raise awareness and understanding of the Holocaust among young people in America by targeting teachers to add student activities into their curriculum and bringing these lessons directly to teens, meeting them where they are online.
“I saw the shootings, hangings, gassing and burnings. This is undeniable evidence of the atrocities that I witnessed in Auschwitz,” Holocaust survivor Tova Freidman states in her TikTok video, as she rolls up her sleeve to reveal her tattooed identification number. “And they say to my face that it never happened. This misinformation is unbearable, and the Holocaust wasn’t that long ago. Help us fight the spread of misinformation. The more you know, the stronger you are.”
ADL also is supporting efforts to pass legislation at both the state and federal level that would ensure the Holocaust is taught consistently and appropriately in schools. ADL strongly advocated for the Never Again Education Act, which passed in 2020 and provides federal funding for U.S. educators to teach about the Holocaust in their classrooms. ADL is now urging bipartisan and bicameral support for the Never Again Education Reauthorization Act, the Holocaust Education and Antisemitism Lessons (HEAL) Act, and the Countering Antisemitism Act (CAA), to ensure students are accurately taught about the Holocaust.
ADL is the leading anti-hate organization in the world. Founded in 1913, its timeless mission is “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of antisemitism and bias, using innovation and partnerships to drive impact. A global leader in combating antisemitism, countering extremism and battling bigotry wherever and whenever it happens, ADL works to protect democracy and ensure a just and inclusive society for all. More at www.adl.org.