TikTok Shop Showed Me Search Suggestions for Products With Nazi Symbolism

My travel on TikTok Shop started retired with a hunt for “hip hop jewelry.” It’s an innocuous hunt query aggregate users person apt typed in, hoping to find thing to wear. While browsing the inexpensive jewelry, I was struck by what TikTok’s algorithm repeatedly suggested that I mightiness besides beryllium funny in: jewelry with blatant Nazi symbolism.

TikTok continues to conflict with moderation arsenic its in-app ecommerce store gains traction with younger users. Last year, the societal media level removed aggregate antisemitic products from its store. Most recently, galore users who were scrolling done videos connected their For You pages expressed outrage erstwhile a swastika necklace, nether the sanction “hiphop titanium alloy pendant,” was promoted to them successful precocious December arsenic an on-sale merchandise successful TikTok Shop that outgo $8.

The level yet removed the merchandise arsenic immoderate users who claimed to brushwood the suggested point connected their provender shared screenshots successful viral societal media posts.

Despite TikTok removing that necklace, my probe into TikTok Shop uncovered an algorithmic web of far-right merchandise hunt suggestions that nudged maine toward achromatic nationalist and Nazi-related terms. In the dedicated buying tab connected TikTok, I looked for products to bargain and followed what the algorithm recommended to maine successful the “Others searched for” boxes. This proposal container sometimes appears successful TikTok’s mobile app arsenic a acceptable of 4 related hunt suggestions, each with a picture, arsenic users look for products and scroll done what’s disposable connected TikTok Shop.

TikTok spokesperson Glenn Kuper confirms that the benignant of hunt suggestions seen successful my reporting interruption the company’s policies. He says TikTok is presently moving to region these algorithmic suggestions from the app, successful effect to a elaborate database of questions from WIRED.

Kuper besides highlights TikTok Shop's information report, which states that the ecommerce level removed 700,000 sellers and 200,000 restricted oregon prohibited products successful the archetypal fractional of 2025.

Buddhists wide utilized manji symbols, which tin often look identical to swastikas, for thousands of years earlier the Nazis. Even so, the necklace that was promoted successful December included a item suggesting the portion of jewelry was truthful wide seen due to the fact that it was perchance portion of an effort astatine trolling by extremists, alternatively than a taste misunderstanding.

Joan Donovan, the laminitis of the Critical Internet Studies Institute and coauthor of the publication Meme Wars, encountered the viral necklace first-hand successful her feed. In this context, Donovan says, the necklace’s statement hints astatine “HH,” an abbreviation of the “Heil Hitler” slogan wide utilized by Nazis. For her, what differentiated the swastika necklace was a dog-whistle tucked successful the product’s description: “hiphop.”