Families urged to delete TikTok and social media ahead of potential videos of Israeli hostages

New York
CNN
—

Schools in Israel, the UK and the US have advised parents to delete their children’s social media apps over concerns that Hamas militants are broadcasting or publishing disturbing videos of hostages taken in recent days.

A Tel Aviv school parents association said it expected videos of hostages “begging for their lives” to appear on social media. In a letter to parents, which a mother of children at a high school in Tel Aviv shared with CNN, the association asked parents to remove applications such as TikTok from their children’s phones.

“We cannot allow our children to see these things. It is also difficult – even impossible – to contain all this content on social media,” the parents’ association said. “Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.”

Hamas warned that it would publicize the hostage killings on social media if Israel targeted people in Gaza without warning.

There are additional concerns that terrorists will exploit social media algorithms to specifically target these videos to Jewish followers or Israeli influencers in an attempt to wage psychological warfare on Israelis, Jews, and their supporters globally.

During the attack on Saturday, Hamas gunmen streamed across the heavily fortified border into Israel and took up to 150 hostages, including Israeli army officers, into Gaza. The sudden attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 1,200 people, according to the Israeli army, and the injury of thousands more.

Since Israel began its air strikes on the Palestinian enclave on Saturday, at least 1,055 people have been killed in Gaza, including hundreds of children, women and entire families, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It said that 5,184 others had been infected as of Wednesday.

As the war continues, some Jewish schools in the United States are also asking parents not to share relevant videos or photos that may appear, and preventing children – and themselves – from viewing them. Schools are also advising community members to delete their social media apps during this time.

“In collaboration with other Jewish day schools, we are warning parents not to disable social media apps such as Instagram, X, and TikTok from their children’s phones,” a New Jersey school principal wrote in an email. “Graphic and often misleading information flows freely, heightening our students’ concerns. …Parents should discuss the dangers of these platforms and ask their children on a daily basis what they see, even if they have deleted most unfiltered apps from their phones.”

Another school in the UK said it asked students to delete their social media apps during a safety meeting.

TikTok, Instagram and

But X He said On its platform, it has seen an increase in daily active users in the conflict zone, and its de-escalation teams have “conducted tens of thousands of posts sharing graphic media, violent rhetoric, and hateful behavior.” It did not respond to a request for further comment or to define “action taken.”

“We also continue to proactively monitor anti-Semitic rhetoric as part of all our efforts,” X’s safety team said. “In addition, we have taken action to remove several hundred accounts attempting to manipulate trending topics.”

The company added that it remains “laser focused” on enforcing site rules and reminded users that they can limit sensitive media they may encounter by visiting the “Content you see” option in Settings.

However, misinformation continues to spread on social media platforms, including X.

One post that has been viewed more than 500,000 times – which includes the hashtag #PalestineUnderAttack – claimed to show a plane being shot down. But the clip was from the video game Arma 3, as was later pointed out in a “community note” accompanying the post.

Another video purporting to show Israeli generals being captured by Hamas fighters has been viewed more than 1.7 million times as of Monday. But the video instead shows separatists being detained in Azerbaijan.

On Tuesday, the European Union warned Elon Musk of “sanctions” over misinformation being circulated on X amid the war between Israel and Hamas.

The European Union also informed CEO Meta Zuckerberg on Wednesday of an increase in misinformation on its platforms — which include Facebook — and demanded that the company respond within 24 hours on how it plans to combat the issue.

In an Instagram story on Tuesday, Zuckerberg called the attack “pure evil” and said his focus “remains the safety of our employees and their families in Israel and the region.”