TikTok bans ‘Popebusters’ loyalist memorabilia shop due to breach of ‘hate’ guidelines
Social media giant TikTok has banned an account linked to a loyalist website selling items including a union flag featuring a sectarian slur.The Everything Ulster website sells ‘Popebusters’ stickers, alongside others featuring sectarian slurs, and CDs with song titles including ‘Simply the Best (UVF)’ and ‘Up the UDA’.Until Wednesday, the website, which also sells flags and grave markers, promoted itself through a TikTok account that had gathered over 15,400 followers and more than 180,000 likes.One of the flags advertised on the account before it was banned includes a version of the Union flag featuring what appears to be a silhouette of a person kicking another, with the wording ‘lie down and grunt’ followed by a sectarian slur using the word ‘fenian’. The same image and wording is available on a sticker sold by the website for £5, along with the ‘Popebusters’ sticker, based on the famous Ghostbusters movie logo.The CDs sold on the site, which include the tributes to loyalist paramilitary groups alongside versions of traditional flute band melodies, feature titles including ‘Loyalist Rave Choons’.Other tracks include ‘We’re not Palestine, We’re Northern Ireland’ and ‘Gerry Kelly got run Over by a Peeler’, in reference to the North Belfast Sinn Féin MLA and Policing Board member.Items for sale on the site also refer to Celtic F.C supporters with sectarian slurs.A spokesperson for TikTok confirmed the account had been banned on Wednesday.The social media firm’s community guidelines says it does not allow “people or groups that promote violence or hate, including violent extremists, criminal organizations, or those responsible for mass violence”.“Supporting, recruiting for, or promoting these entities is also prohibited,” the guidelines state.The company says it regularly trains safety professionals to better detect hateful behaviour, symbols, terms, and “offensive stereotypes”, while also helping them identify and protect counter speech.A recent report on the company’s enforcement of its guidelines found that between October and December of last year, over 99% of videos removed over hate speech and hateful behaviour were taken down proactively before being reported.
