Daesh Propaganda Song Caught Spreading on Kids' App TikTok
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Propaganda videos of the Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorists were caught on Chinese TikTok app that is loved by teenagers, as an attempt to radicalize children by flooding the popular social media app.
Videos now removed from kids' app TikTok featured corpses paraded through streets and militants holding guns as part of a sick bid to enlist youngsters.
Other clips posted to the app, which is largely used by teens and pre-teens to share lighthearted content, featured Daesh singalongs, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
"We pledge allegiance til death," voices sang in Arabic in one propaganda post apparently uploaded in recent weeks.
Experts warned the videos were an attempt to brainwash young people.
"The rhyme, beat, evocative lyrics and punchy delivery are especially appealing to youth," Elisabeth Kendall, an Oxford University expert on extremism, told the WSJ.
"This catchy sing-along method for propagating ISIS ideology means it spreads quickly and sticks in the collective memory.
"It tends to be far more effective than sermons or theological debate and treatises."
Daesh regularly uses propaganda spread on popular sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to further its hateful cause.
It seems TikTok is the latest to fall victim to the group's social media campaigns.
The Chinese app has spiked in popularity this year, boasting more than a billion downloads worldwide. One in three users are under the age of 18.
Around 24 Daesh-linked accounts were caught spreading propaganda by investigators at social media intelligence agency Storyful.
They aimed to rouse enthusiasm and support for the terrorist group and possibly to recruit militants.
In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson said: "Content promoting terrorist organisations has absolutely no place on TikTok.
"We permanently ban any such accounts and associated devices as soon as identified, and we continuously develop ever-stronger controls to proactively detect suspicious activity.
"This is an industry-wide challenge complicated by bad actors who actively seek to circumvent protective measures, but we have a team dedicated to aggressively protecting against malicious behaviour on TikTok."