TikTok company refused to allow the Hostages and Missing Persons Forum to publish ads calling for the return of their loved ones who are being held hostage in Gaza, on the grounds that they were "too political and graphic", Fox News reported.
Unlike TikTok, other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, agreed to run the ads.
Yossi Lubaton, an advertising professional who heads content creation for the Hostages and Missing Persons Forum, confirmed to Fox News Digital that TikTok was approached a few weeks after the Hamas October 7 massacre and asked to place content as part of the humanitarian campaign to appeal for the release of the hostages.
"We were told that according to their policy, we were unable to place paid campaigns because they were considered too political or too graphic," he said. "They told us it was a strict policy that was applied to the Israeli side, as well as to the other side, and so we started to put the paid campaign on Facebook and Google instead."
Videos from the campaign shared with Fox News Digital showed the civilian hostages engaged in an ordinary act, such as dancing or attending a soccer match, which then flips to a poster showing the faces of additional civilians held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
"Our campaign is based on humanitarian policy, kidnapping children and civilians is a war crime and Hamas should release them," Lubaton told Fox News Digital.
In response to the report, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi contacted the management of TikTok and demanded that the platform correct the injustice of the decision not to approve the ads.
In the coming days, the ministry will receive an answer to both the request to allow the ads as well as the permission to use the hashtag "Together we will win".
TikTok told Fox News Digital that paid ads were accepted and rejected on the basis of compliance with its advertising policies and Community Guidelines and not on whether they were related to a current event or favorable to a country.
The company said its advertising policies did not allow for political advertising, "including the use of campaign slogans," and that it also prohibited ads that contained "depictions of war, weapons, hostages, and violence."