TikTok's new hire to oversee hate speech policies for the app has long-standing ties to the Israeli army, the company confirmed to Jewish Insider on Monday.

The social media platform announced that Erica Mindel, a former US State Department contractor who worked for ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the Biden administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, will join TikTok’s public policy and hate speech team in the US.

Mindel will “develop and drive the company’s positions on hate speech”, aim to “influence legislative and regulatory frameworks”, and “analyse hate speech trends” with a particular focus on antisemitic content, according to the official job description shared by TikTok.

Before her career at the US State Department, Mindel was an instructor in the Armoured Corps in the Israeli army’s spokesperson’s unit, according to information she provided when she appeared on a podcast with the American Jewish Committee.