{"id":35599,"date":"2025-03-06T09:29:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T09:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection"},"modified":"2025-03-10T22:47:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T22:47:23","slug":"research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection","title":{"rendered":"Research finds Amharic language used to evade TikTok moderation, bypass hate speech detection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ethiopia. <\/strong><\/span>March 5, 2025 2 minutes read Addis Abeba<\/b>\u2013 A study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found that the Amharic language is being used on TikTok to \u201cbypass moderation\u201d and \u201cevade hate speech detection\u201d by exploiting gaps in the platform\u2019s content moderation systems.<\/p>\n

The research identified 134 comments where Amharic was used in two ways: the first method, referred to as \u201ccoded,\u201d involved \u201cdirectly translating hate speech into Amharic using the Ge\u2019ez script.\u201d The second method, called \u201cbypass,\u201d involved \u201cplacing Amharic text alongside hate speech written in a European language.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report states that \u201cOf 16 comments reported to TikTok, the platform removed or limited the visibility of only 5.\u201d It added, \u201cThis suggests that TikTok\u2019s systems are failing to recognise hate speech, even when written in English and manually reported, if it appears alongside Amharic language text.\u201d<\/p>\n

ISD noted that \u201cprevious studies on computing and natural language processing have pointed to the challenge of policing hate speech by native Amharic speakers, reflecting technical challenges and inequalities in the resources platforms allocate to different languages.\u201d It explained that Amharic is a \u201clow-resource language,\u201d meaning there is less online data available to train natural language processing systems, which platforms rely on for automated moderation.<\/p>\n

The study also found that similar tactics were being used in other \u201clow-resource\u201d languages, including Punjabi, Nepali, Konkani, and Tigrinya, suggesting that \u201cbad actors are innovating and exploiting this vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n

ISD urged TikTok to \u201cfirst reevaluate its moderation systems\u201d so that \u201c\u2018bypass\u2019-type uses of non-Roman alphabets do not allow hate speech in high-resource languages to escape moderation at both the initial time of posting and after being reported.\u201d<\/p>\n

It further called on TikTok to \u201cfocus its computational and natural language processing capabilities\u201d on non-Roman alphabets and low-resource languages, warning that current gaps \u201callow bad actors to rebuild networks and account followings\u201d even after suspensions.<\/p>\n

Concerns over TikTok\u2019s content moderation have been raised in the past. In Ethiopia, the platform came under scrutiny following the rape and murder of seven-year-old Heaven Awot in Bahir Dar. After her mother shared the story online, the hashtag #JusticeforHeaven gained widespread attention. While many used the platform to demand justice, inflammatory content attacking the victim and her family also surfaced. Users reported such content, but TikTok\u2019s response was limited, allowing harmful videos to continue circulating.<\/p>\n

Ethiopian feminist activists have also faced online harassment on TikTok. Following the #JusticeforHeaven campaign, activist Jordin Bezabih and others became targets of threats and false accusations. Live-streamed TikTok discussions, often led by male hosts, drew large audiences, where offensive rhetoric against feminists was widely shared.<\/p>\n

In response to growing criticism, TikTok established an advisory council in September 2024 that includes Ethiopian academic Prof. Medhane Tadesse.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Ethiopia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ethiopia. March 5, 2025 2 minutes read Addis Abeba\u2013 A study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found that the Amharic language is being used on TikTok to \u201cbypass moderation\u201d and \u201cevade hate speech detection\u201d by exploiting gaps in the platform\u2019s content moderation systems. The research identified 134 comments where Amharic was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":35598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[235],"class_list":["post-35599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-ethiopia"],"yoast_head":"\nResearch finds Amharic language used to evade TikTok moderation, bypass hate speech detection - Ethiopia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"March 5, 2025 2 minutes read Addis Abeba\u2013 A study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found that the Am ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Research finds Amharic language used to evade TikTok moderation, bypass hate speech detection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March 5, 2025 2 minutes read Addis Abeba\u2013 A study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found that the Am ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ethiopia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-06T09:29:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-10T22:47:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2025\/03\/sm_1741241029.972112.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"625\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Research finds Amharic language used to evade TikTok moderation, bypass hate speech detection\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-06T09:29:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-10T22:47:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection\"},\"wordCount\":473,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2025\/03\/sm_1741241029.972112.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ethiopia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/research-finds-amharic-language-used-to-evade-tiktok-moderation-bypass-hate-speech-detection\",\"name\":\"Research finds Amharic language used to evade TikTok moderation, bypass hate speech detection - 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