Why you should always check "factual" information on Tik Tok

Especially if it conforms to your existing preconceptions and biases

Yesterday, a young (late 20’s) guy I know of Lebanese descent was telling me how he never wears sunscreen except on his tattoos to protect them from fading. I shared with him how in my teens I used to slather on baby oil to tan faster, but in my 60’s I regret it because of all the sunspots.

He laughed and said, “My people don’t burn.”

Then he showed me a Tik Tok video of a guy saying that Israel has the world’s highest rate of skin cancer “because it’s not your country.” I told him I didn’t think that was actually true, and he said he thought it was “just a joke and funny.”

But as someone who thinks about information literacy and propaganda a lot, I didn’t find it all that funny.

I’m not on Tik Tok, and I can’t find the link to the video, but I did find some similar contentions claiming that Israel’s high level of skin cancer is “proof” that Jews aren’t indigenous to the region.

I told him that the video was spreading a misconception about Israel and Jews - that all Jews are white and of Ashkenazi descent. I happen to be, but my kids have a more varied background through their grandmother, who was born in Cairo and whose paternal line was Levantine.

The previous night, we’d gone to hear a former hostage of Hamas, Moran Stella Yanai, speak of her experience as a captive in Gaza. Yanai is of Moroccan and Egyptian descent, contradicting the “all Jews are white and European” narrative promoted by the Tik tok influencer.

But that’s not even the worst of the misinformation in this “proof” that Jews aren’t indigenous to the region.

What’s one of the things we always try to teach students about information literacy? Factcheck!

A quick Google Search shows that Israel doesn’t even show up in the top 10 of the national skin cancer rate tables, according to the World Cancer Research Fund. Scroll down to the non-melonoma skin cancer tables to see how misleading this argument about indigenousness based on skin color and cancer levels is.

The original poster had to go back over 20 years to find this “proof”. And what do we tell students to ask themselves when we’re teaching them about information literacy? How recent is the article? Is there more recent information? Well, there certainly is, but that didn’t fit the narrative, so the OP chose to ignore it for propaganda purposes.

Here’s a great resource for news consumers from NPR’s On the Media. Check out number 7: “Check the date. Social media often resurrects outdated stories.”

Look, there are plenty of reasons to have strong opinions on what is happening in the Middle East. But PLEASE make sure you are basing those opinions on facts, not mis-or disinformation.

Because if you share this kind of thing, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution, and you are not doing the necessary work to promote the lasting peace that we ALL want for the region.