The platform is said to be hosting hundreds of videos that celebrate the Russian Wagner group of mercenaries.
For years a shadowy mercenary group, Wagner began recruiting in Russian prisons recently for the war in UkraineTikTok is hosting dozens of videos that glorify violence by Russia's Wagner Group of mercenaries and they have been viewed more than a billion times, according to a new report.US-based NewsGuard, which focuses on online misinformation, says some of the videos appear to show the execution of a former Russian mercenary.
It is thought he was then part of a prisoner exchange and within days a gruesome video involving a sledgehammer was posted on a Wagner-linked channel on the Telegram messaging app.When an analyst searched for the term "Wagner", TikTok's search bar suggested searches for "Wagner execution" and "Wagner sledgehammer". The same search in Russian resulted in the suggestions "Wagner PMC", "Wagner sledgehammer" and "Wagner orchestra".
The online analysis group said it had also identified other music videos on the platform that advocated violence against Ukrainians, including calls to kill Ukrainians claiming they were "Nazis". "Our Community Guidelines clearly outline that we do not allow people to use our platform to threaten or incite violence, or share attacks or slurs based on people's nationality or other protected characteristics. We will take action on content found to violate these policies," TikTok said.Wagner started out as a shadowy Russian mercenary group and in 2014 went to eastern Ukraine to help Russian proxy forces oust the Ukrainian military.
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