A new AI video in which Frans Timmermans is beaten has been viewed more than 319,000 times on TikTok in a day and a half. And it’s still online. In the run-up to the Dutch elections, TikTok stated that it would take strict action against disinformation and aggression against politicians. The video about the GroenLinks-PvdA party leader was reported as ‘violent’ via the ‘report button’ at the beginning of the afternoon on Monday, but the platform had not yet intervened until the time of publication of this article.
In the video, Frans Timmermans rings the doorbell at a house and begs through the video doorbell to vote for GroenLinks-PvdA. The door then opens and Timmermans is punched in the face by the resident, after which the politician runs away. “Hey Timmermans, fuck off, I’m voting for Geert,” can be heard. The video receives more than 17,000 hearts and calls appear in the comments to poison and arrest Timmermans. He is also depicted in a Nazi uniform with the text ‘Der Untergang’, with Frans Timmermans‘.”
TikTok praises advanced AI mechanisms that combat these types of videos,
but apparently they don’t pick up on this
“This proves that despite all promises, TikTok does not act to tackle violence against politicians, even when it is reported,” says Pieter van Boheemen, who made the report to the platform. He is a scientist and director of Post-X Society, a foundation that stands up for democratic values. “TikTok talks highly of advanced AI mechanisms that should combat these types of videos, but they apparently do not pick up on this either,” says Van Boheemen.
A video in which Timmermans’ face is scratched until bloody by a lion has been prominently ‘pinned’ on another popular TikTok account since August 24. It already attracted more than 194,000 viewers.
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In the run-up to the House of Representatives elections on Wednesday, TikTok, which has 6.7 million users in the Netherlands, announced that it would combat manipulation and violent content with a special election team. When members of Parliament wanted to hold a roundtable discussion with social media platforms on October 16 to discuss online radicalization around the elections, TikTok announced that it could not delegate anyone due to ‘agenda problems’. Since Google and X did not show up, the meeting was canceled.
A TikTok spokesperson reported NRC to contact us on Tuesday morning to respond to the video. That didn’t happen.
Last summer, AI videos were on TikTok for weeks in which Member of Parliament Thierry Baudet (FVD) and PVV party leader Geert Wilders abused Member of Parliament Jesse Klaver (GroenLinks-PvdA) and Timmermans respectively. In one of the videos, a Nazi Reich eagle could be seen in the background.
These videos also achieved hundreds of thousands of views before they were taken offline. Moreover, TikTok turned out to be far-right livestreamers to provide additional audiences as a company through donations to those streamers to earn money.
Arrest
The Green Amsterdammer revealed this month that MPs from the PVV are publishing hateful AI images about politicians and people with a migration background on Facebook. From a publication in de Volkskrant it emerged on Monday that these AI images have led to several death threats against Timmermans. GroenLinks-PvdA has filed a complaint of defamation against PVV MPs Maikel Boon and Patrick Crijns, who, according to the publications, manage the Facebook page in question.
The online aggression against Timmermans may contribute to offline intimidation. Shortly before the first television debate between party leaders, Frans Timmermans was attacked on a terrace in Amsterdam on October 12 by men who called him a “left-wing whore.” The party leader filed a report, after which a 32-year-old man was arrested on Sunday, October 19, on suspicion of insult and threat. The suspect has been interrogated and is awaiting his criminal trial in freedom.
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Is online, anonymous targeting of fellow politicians – as PVV members did with Timmermans – new or punishable?
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