Russian trolls reported my news updates en masse, and Tiktok banned me from future LIVE broadcasts as a result.
by John Aravosis
TikTok just banned me from ever going LIVE on their platform again because a group of Russian trolls complained that my news updates, in which I basically summarize CNN and New York Times stories on Ukraine, and then explain why they matter, constitute “hate speech” against Russians.
TikTok’s “LIVE” feature is similar to going live on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or any other social media platform. People can watch you live, and pose questions. I’ve been updating folks on TikTok non-stop on the Russian invasion of Ukraine since the war started, and, by popular request, have been doing a LIVE update on the news of the day every night at 7PM ET. I quite literally summarize the news of the day and answer questions about the war. They’ve been remarkably popular, and I’ve had a worldwide audience.
My background was originally in foreign policy. I speak five languages, have a joint Masters in Foreign Service and Juris Doctor from Georgetown, then went on to be a foreign policy and arms control adviser to a US Senator. Since then, I worked at the World Bank, the United Nations, did contract work around the world for the State Department, provided election help to the Swedes, advised the Socialist party in Greece, gave Internet trainings in Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire, Indonesia, and Sicily, and more. I even was a stringer for the Economist. With all that, I wanted to use my foreign policy experience to help people understand what was going on in Ukraine, and ultimately, help the Ukrainians themselves. (And I even got into the US Foreign Service, but turned it down because I’m gay, and at the time was afraid they’d boot me — it was frowned upon back then.)
That’s a long way of saying I’ve always known a good deal about foreign affairs, and saw an opportunity to use my media and Internet marketing chops to help educate people around the world about what was happening, and thereby help Ukraine itself. I even posted a fundraising video for Ukraine today.
Clearly, the Russian trolls have not been happy with me. I have 360,000 followers — 100,000 of those in just the past week, due to my Ukraine updates — and my LIVE events routinely get over 5,000 people watching simultaneously. The Russian trolls got particularly vocal in the last few days. Tonight, they apparently swarmed TikTok with complaints, and TikTok responded by shutting down my LIVE, midstream, claiming I had committed “hate speech” against the Russians, and notified me that I was banned from doing another LIVE update for life. (The “hate speech” charge is particularly choice as I’ve been a nationally-known civil rights advocate for the past 30 years or so.)
Note the multiple messages from TikTok after they censored me, which likely means multiple complaints about “hate speech” were registered”:
And here is the official notice from TikTok, telling me the specific “hateful behavior” rule that I allegedly broke. There is nothing in TikTok’s rules that even applies to my case:
1. I did not threaten anyone with violence. Is TikTok actually claiming that supporting Ukraine’s effort to stop the genocide constitutes “inciting violence” against Russian troops?
2. The Russian military is not a “protected class.”
3. I don’t even know a slur for the Russians, and certainly never have used slurs against anyone in my broadcasts.
This is republished from John Aravosis’ Cyberdisobedience on Substack. Follow John Aravosis on Twitter @aravosis.