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In Ethiopia, the lethal implications of TikTok's negligence in regulating local dialects have been revealed

Amharic-speaking content on the platform is causing significant escalation of harmful, divisive material, fueling discord and social tension.

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In Ethiopia, the lethal implications of TikTok's negligence in regulating local dialects have been revealed

Rewritten Article:

Online Harassment Drives Ethiopian Feminist Into Exile

The digital realm became a living nightmare for Lella Mesikir, a vocal feminist whose work reaches millions in Ethiopia, after she spoke up against gender-based violence online. The backlash, culminating in a death threat, forced her into exile in Kenya.

The torment began on October 22, 2024, when she shared a video on TikTok appealing to women victims of violence to find safety. This call was misconstrued by an Ethiopian influencer as a "hate campaign" against men. Subsequently, Lella Mesikir was accused of advocating for LGBT+ rights, a highly controversial stance in a country where such relations are punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Read More | Subscriber-only article Exploring Ethiopia's Tigray Tensions

A TikTok group inciting violence and calling for her assassination soon emerged. Fearing for her life, Lella Mesikir fled to Kenya in November. "I had to abandon my family, my job, and everything I had in Ethiopia due to these threats," she weeps during a remote interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP). "I am devastated," she adds, grappling with both emotional and financial hardships after her abrupt relocation to Nairobi left her without resources.

Lella Mesikir accuses TikTok of neglecting its content moderation responsibilities, particularly in Ethiopian languages like Amharic, Tigrinya, and Afan Oroomo. "I've witnessed countless videos on TikTok featuring Ethiopian men espousing misogynistic views, yet there's no action taken," she maintains.

Political, Ethnic, and Religious Friction

AFP interviewed TikTok, who asserted they have "zero tolerance for misogyny and hate speech" and remove 92% of the contents that violate these rules without prior reporting. According to TikTok's response, they employ a mix of technology and human moderation in over 70 languages to eradicate contents. However, local experts like Workineh Diribsa of Jimma University believe that TikTok has become a breeding ground for "extremely dangerous" content, encompassing graphic violence, misogyny, and ethnic tensions.

Read More | Ethiopia: Two Years After the Peace Agreement, Tigray Remains Tense

TikTok influencers in Ethiopia wield influence by disseminating such content, further fanning the flames of conflict and polarizing society, Mr. Workineh laments.

In a recent report by the British NGO Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), the rise of hate speech on Ethiopian social media networks is attributed to the political, ethnic, and religious struggles the country is experiencing.

Menacing Online Threats

Early in April, the Kenyan judiciary ruled to examine Meta's role, accused of not adequately moderating content promoting hate and violence during the Tigray conflict, paving the way for a trial. Among the litigants in this case, Abraham Meareg claims that his university professor father was murdered as a consequence of posts published on Facebook in November 2021 that included his name, photo, address, and his alleged ties to the Tigray rebel movement.

While Meta announced the termination of its fact-checking program in the US in January, concerns are growing about the possibility of such measures being implemented elsewhere, particularly in Africa. AFP collaborates with Meta in providing fact-checking services, notably in Africa.

Read More | Ethiopia: After the Tigray War, Truth and Justice Suppressed

Felicity Mulford, a researcher at CIR, wonders whether this "withdrawal" of platforms could have disastrous implications in countries like Ethiopia, where political divisions and online threats are escalating. As the situation in Tigray remains uncertain, Oromia, Ethiopia's largest and most populous region, has been besieged since 2018 by an armed insurrection viciously suppressed, and communal killings with unidentified perpetrators.

The 130-million-inhabitant nation, also grappling with heightened tensions with neighboring Eritrea, is slated for legislative elections in 2026. In such a context, Megdelawit Getahun, an Ethiopian digital rights expert, warns that "failed moderation [of social networks] doesn't just enable hate to fester—it allows violence and human rights violations to go unchecked."

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Insights:

  • Social media platforms like TikTok face challenges in addressing hate speech and threats, particularly against certain groups, mainly due to systemic gaps in handling local languages. Automated tools and human moderation are often insufficient in detecting and eradicating hate speech in Ethiopian dialects like Amharic, Afaan Oromo, and Tigrigna.
  • Women advocating for gender equality experience significant online abuse, including accusations of financial fraud, lesbianism, and dire threats. Anonymity on these platforms allows perpetrators to spread harmful content with impunity, and influencers exacerbate the problem by amplifying abusive rhetoric for virality.
  • Lack of trained moderators and insufficient LLM training for local dialects, coupled with a lack of understanding of linguistic and cultural complexities, contributes to these persistent issues.
  1. The online harassment of Lella Mesikir, a vocal Ethiopian feminist who advocates for gender equality, led to a death threat and her subsequent exile in Kenya after she spoke out about gender-based violence on social-media platform TikTok.
  2. In Ethiopia, a TikTok group emerged, inciting violence and calling for Mesikir's assassination, as a result of her work promoting LGBT+ rights, a stance considered highly controversial in the country.
  3. Lella Mesikir has accused TikTok of negligent content moderation, particularly in Ethiopian languages like Amharic, Tigrinya, and Afan Oromo, citing the proliferation of misogynistic content on the platform.
  4. Local experts, such as Workineh Diribsa of Jimma University, believe that TikTok has become a breeding ground for dangerous content, including graphic violence, misogyny, and ethnic tensions.
  5. Political, ethnic, and religious struggles in Ethiopia have contributed to the rise of hate speech on social media networks, with TikTok influencers playing a significant role in escalating conflict and polarizing society.
  6. In 2026, Ethiopia is set to hold legislative elections, occurring in a context where failed moderation of social networks allows online hate and threats to go unchecked, potentially leading to violence and human rights violations.
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