ETHIOPIA’S LGBTQ+ community is grappling with a distressing wave of online harassment and physical assaults, attributing a significant portion of the blame to the popular social media platform TikTok. The members of this marginalised community are demanding that TikTok address the pervasive issue of harmful content promoting violence against homosexual and transgender individuals, which remains inadequately removed.
House of Guramayle, a local LGBTQ+ support group, reported that TikTok users are not only sharing disturbing posts calling for brutal actions against LGBTQ+ individuals but also outing them by revealing their names, photographs, and online profiles on one of Ethiopia’s most widely used social media platforms.
The conservative East African country, where the population straddles Christianity and Islam, has witnessed a surge in hostility towards LGBTQ+ individuals. Homosexual acts can lead to imprisonment for up to 15 years under Ethiopian law.
Bahiru Shewaye, co-founder of House of Guramayle, highlighted the disturbing trend, stating, ‘TikTok is being used to incite violence.’ Despite several reports of these harmful videos to TikTok, the platform has yet to take effective action.
A review conducted by The Associated Press (AP) news agency identified videos violating TikTok’s community guidelines by inciting violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In response, TikTok’s spokesman, Ben Rathe, announced that the platform had removed the content and banned the associated accounts for violating its community guidelines.
One of the videos featured an evangelical Christian pastor advocating for the public whipping of gay individuals, coupled with derogatory remarks. The video, posted on August 5, sparked outrage due to its explicit calls for violence.
Another video, dated August 2, featured a TikTok user urging violence by calling for gay men to be stabbed in the buttocks. A third video, posted recently, showcased a young man making threats of killing LGBTQ+ individuals.
The videos are primarily in Amharic, Ethiopia’s main language, thus intensifying their impact within the local context.
While the exact impetus behind these videos remains unclear, some point to Uganda’s newly enacted anti-LGBT law, which prescribes the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality,’ as a contributing factor.
The escalating abusive content has left LGBTQ+ Ethiopians feeling unsafe, leading some to flee the country. Individuals have sought refuge in neighbouring nations, such as Kenya, after experiencing attacks and violence in Ethiopia. Advocates warn of the tangible connection between online hate and harassment to physical violence in the real world.
Major social media platforms, including TikTok, have come under scrutiny for their failure to protect LGBTQ+ users from hate speech and harassment. The urgency to enhance safety measures is underscored by the concerns voiced by advocacy groups like GLAAD in its Social Media Safety Index.
As the LGBTQ+ community in Ethiopia grapples with these challenges, advocates emphasize the importance of robust safeguards against hate speech and violence on social media platforms.
