TikTok removes Israeli promo showing Soroka Hospital on October 7, calls it misinformation

The film, and the promo, show previously unaired recordings from a long line of security cameras at Soroka in Be’er Sheva on October 7, 2023.

By Gila Isaacson, JFeed

TikTok has removed a promo for an Israeli documentary about October 7 that is built on real security-camera footage from Soroka Medical Center, telling the journalist who posted it that the video broke the platform’s rules on misleading information.

The clip promotes an upcoming episode of Zman Emet, the investigative program on public broadcaster Kan 11.

It was taken down on Friday, three days before the episode airs and days before the third anniversary of the Hamas massacre.

Roni Singer, one of the program’s reporters, had uploaded the promo to her personal TikTok account, where it drew many views before it was pulled, Walla reported.

The removal notice she received said the video violated community guidelines on misleading information..

TikTok’s explanation said it does not allow misleading content that could cause significant harm to individuals or society, including false information about crises or major civic events.

Singer wrote that she could not understand why TikTok removed the promo and said the notice gave the reason as spreading conspiracies.

The footage is neither disputed nor new in kind. The film, and the promo, show previously unaired recordings from a long line of security cameras at Soroka in Be’er Sheva on October 7, 2023.

They document the arrival of hundreds of wounded from the massacre sites and from the communities and bases that came under attack.

Kan criticized the decision, objecting that footage filmed in real time inside the hospital was classified under a policy meant for false or misleading content.

The broadcaster has asked TikTok’s representatives in Israel to review the removal. TikTok had not responded to Kan at the time of the Hebrew reports.

The episode, titled The Shift, is by Chen Liberman and Roni Singer and airs on Monday, October 5.

It returns to the first hours of the attack through what happened inside the hospital, where Soroka’s teams treated more than 670 wounded in a single day.

Alongside the footage, it tells the stories of the wounded, bereaved families, and the medical staff.

The removal lands at a time when denial and distortion of the October 7 atrocities remain widespread online, and when Israeli broadcasters are preparing a wide slate of anniversary programming built on documentation from that day.