A US teenager¡¯s video clip on TikTok accusing China of exploiting Muslims has gone viral on Chinese-owned social media network. The post, which appears to be one on make-up in the beginning, quickly changes tone to highlight what she describes as "another Holocaust".
The woman pretending to give eyelash curling advice while condemning China's crackdown on Muslims in Xinjiang.
The clip by US teen Feroza Aziz, who describes herself as "17 Just a Muslim", had millions of views across several social media platforms by Wednesday.
But Aziz said she has been blocked from posting on the hugely popular video platform TikTok for a month after uploading Sunday's clip slamming China, a claim disputed by the app, per a report by AFP.
screen grab/tiktok
Human rights groups and outside experts say more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been rounded up in a network of internment camps across the fractious region of Xinjiang.
China had initially denied about the existence of camps. It describes them as vocational schools aimed at dampening the allure of Islamist extremism and violence through education and job training.
Aziz starts her video telling viewers: "The first thing you need to do is grab your lash curler."
However, she soon changes the subject, saying: "Then you're going to put it down and use the phone you're using right now to search 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 adds, before returning to the eyelash curling tutorial.
The previous account owned by Aziz was blocked by TikTok over alleged violation. However, the app denied blocking the current account.
"TikTok does not moderate content due to political sensitivities," a spokesperson told AFP. "In this case, the user's previous account and associated device were banned after she posted a video of Osama Bin Laden, which is a violation of TikTok's ban on content that includes imagery related to terrorist organizations. Her new account and its videos, including the video in question, were not affected."
As of Wednesday morning, the post had more than 1.5 million views and 501,900 likes, and 600,000 comments.
screen grab/tiktok
Aziz told Buzzfeed, "As a Muslim girl, I've always been oppressed and seen my people be oppressed, and always I've been into human rights."