TikTok removes 380,000 videos and 1,300 accounts in the U.S. for violating hate speech policy and for denying 'violent tragedies' like slavery and the Holocaust

TikTok has removed more than 380,000 videos in the United States for violating its hate speech policy so far this year, the short-form video app said on Thursday.

The app, owned by China's ByteDance, also said it banned more than 1,300 accounts for posting hateful content. 

TikTok said in a blog post that it had acted on content such as race-based harassment and that it also had a zero-tolerance policy on organized hate groups and on content that denied 'violent tragedies' like the Holocaust or slavery.

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Screen shots from TikTok videos shows a caption sending viewers to antisemitic pastebin files and another provoking hashtags promoting anti BLM messaging. More than 1,3000 accounts have been suspended

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Race-based harassment and content that denied 'violent tragedies' like the Holocaust or slavery were targeted by TikTok

The app, which is hugely popular among teenagers, is best known for dance and lip-syncing routines and viral challenges, but a review by the Anti-Defamation League earlier this month said that the platform was being used to spread white supremacist and anti-Semitic hate speech.

'Despite TikTok's efforts to moderate and/or remove extremist content via community guidelines that cover a wide range of problematic content, from hate speech to discussions of self-harm, a cursory review of the platform by ADL's Center on Extremism found that white supremacists and antisemites are using a range of methods on the platform to recruit new adherents and share hateful content,' the ADL said in a statement.

TikTok, which has been under scrutiny over its content moderation practices, in March named the initial members of a content advisory council, to give advice on its policies and evaluate the company's actions.

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Profiles associated with accounts known for pushing out anti-semetic messageson the app

U.S. President Donald Trump also ordered ByteDance last week to divest TikTok's U.S. operations within 90 days, in the latest effort to ramp up pressure on the Chinese company over concerns about the safety of the personal data it handles. 

U.S. officials have expressed concerns that information on users could be passed on to China's government.

TikTok has said that it has never provided user data to China and that it would not do so if asked.