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US Teen TikTok Video Goes Viral for Reacting to Plight of Uyghur Muslims
11-27-2019
A TikTok young Muslim user claims she has been blocked after using a video that started as a makeup tutorial to raise awareness about the plight of Uyghur Muslims in China’s concentration camps, The Guardian reported.
In a three-part series that has gone viral on the international version of the Chinese short video-sharing TikTok platform, Feroza Aziz, 17, begins by appearing to show viewers how to use an eyelash curler.
She instructs: “Then you’re going to put [the eyelash curler] down and use your phone … to search up what’s happening in China, how they’re getting concentration camps, throwing innocent Muslims in there, separating families from each other, kidnapping them, murdering them, raping them, forcing them to eat pork, forcing them to drink, forcing them to convert.”
“This is another Holocaust, yet no one is talking about it. Please be aware, please spread awareness in Xinjiang right now,” she says, before turning back to the eyelash curling lesson.
The post has more than 1.4m views on TikTok and has been widely shared on Twitter as well, where one post was viewed more than 5m times.
The teenager, who has said she is an Afghan-American from New Jersey, claims her account, @getmefamouspartthree has been censored in the past by TikTok. Her profile description reads: “Just a Muslim who wants clout. Got deleted last time”.
TikTok, which is owned by the Beijing-based technology company Bytedance, denied censoring her posts.
“TikTok does not moderate content due to political sensitivities,” a spokesman told the BBC. He said the company had banned one of Aziz’s videos because it broke rules on terrorism-related material.
The 17-year-old’s videos were posted the same week leaked documents detailed some of the measures used to brainwash hundreds of thousands of Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang.
Strict Religious Regulations
A set of new religious regulations were announced in February 2018, which included a declaration requiring the national flag to be raised by local mosques along with the removal of non-Chinese Islamic symbols.
Many mosque decorations are of Middle Eastern origin, including elaborate geometric designs, stylized Arabic script and the ubiquitous crescent moon and star.
Mosques were further required to adopt Chinese-architectural styles, with all domes to be demolished by the end of March.
Minors, defined as being under the age of 18, were banned from entering mosques to study, including during vacations.
A prohibition was also imposed on the use of loudspeakers for calls to prayer and Qur’anic recitations.
Repression Against Xinjiang’s Muslims
In its 117-page report, “‘Eradicating Ideological Viruses’: China’s Campaign of Repression Against Xinjiang’s Muslims,” Human Rights Watch presented new evidence of the Chinese government’s mass arbitrary detention, torture, and mistreatment, and the increasingly pervasive controls on daily life.
Chinese authorities impose restrictions on Uyghur Muslims in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, especially during Ramadan.
Rights groups accuse Chinese authorities of a heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, including violent police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people.
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