‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, nothing was stirring … except a swastika necklace on the TikTok shop.
Yesterday evening, users on Reddit started reporting that they were being served ads for a swastika necklace available to purchase for $7.99 on the TikTok shop. The full description of the item originally read “Hiphop titanium steel pendant, bold, stylish, and simple swastika symbol, trendy and unique pendant necklace, suitable for both boys and girls, trendy and niche.” Later, according to Fox News, the description was edited to remove “swastika symbol.” The phrase “Buddhist manji symbol” then replaced it.
“This isn’t the first ad I’ve gotten like this,” one user shared.
Another person on Reddit posted a screenshot of a different swastika necklace for sale on TikTok shop, however this item was specifically labeled as a Buddhist amulet. (The Nazis appropriated the swastika from Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, in which it has multiple different meanings, including good luck. Though who’s to say who is actually buying the necklace and why…)
News of the “Hiphop” swastika necklace also proliferated on X and TikTok itself, with users questioning why the item was for sale. Some also noted the hypocrisy of TikTok shop selling a swastika necklace, when users who try to make videos about it are blocked from doing so for breaking community guidelines.
Disability educator and influencer Imani Barbarin (@crutches_and_spice) was among those posting about it, pointing to the intentionality of labeling the necklace as “Hiphop.” Barbarin seemed to imply that “Hiphop” was meant to subtly reference Kanye West, the American rapper who in recent years has gone on multiple tirades against Jews, tried sell his own swastika t-shirt during last year’s Super Bowl and released a single entitled “Heil Hitler.” In Barbarin’s comments, others relayed they thought “Hiphop” could also mean “HH,” a white supremacist dogwhistle meaning “Heil Hitler.”
Here are just a few of the responses online:
#greenscreen #antisemitism #wtf #tiktokshop
♬ original sound – CeceFBaby
i don’t think that symbol is related to hip hop guys #truestory
♬ Louis Armstrong What – Adam
At the time of publication, both the “Hiphop” swastika necklace and the Buddhist amulet swastika necklace appear to have been removed from the TikTok shop. However, those who were served the “Hiphop” necklace on their For You Page reported that the ad touted the number of necklaces sold. According to one user, that number reached 352.
If this is all sounding a bit familiar, it’s because Shein had a similar controversy in 2020 after they faced backlash for selling their own swastika necklace. Ultimately, Shein removed the necklace listing. “For the record, Shein was not selling a Nazi swastika pendant, the necklace is a Buddhist swastika which has symbolized spirituality and good fortune for more than a thousand years,” a rep for Shein said at the time. “The Nazi swastika has a different design, it is pointed clockwise and tilted at an angle. However, because we understand the two symbols can be confused and one is highly offensive, we have removed the product from our site.”
They added, “We want to apologize profusely to those who are offended, we are sensitive to these issues and want to be very clear that we in no way support or condone racial, cultural and religious prejudice or hostility.”
Those online defending the TikTok shop swastika necklaces, including the one specifically labeled as Buddhist, had similar reasoning. They claim that unlike the Nazi symbol, these necklaces are facing counter-clockwise. However, once again, this does not account for the possibility that a potential buyer might not interpret the necklace as a Buddhist symbol. Nor does it take into account that someone who genuinely wants a Buddhist swastika pendant for spiritual reasons is probably not looking to buy it on the TikTok shop.
So … how and why were these necklaces available for sale on TikTok shop? Unfortunately, those answers are still a mystery. At the time of publication, TikTok had not responded to a request for comment.
Evelyn Frick (she/they) is a writer and associate editor at Hey Alma. She graduated from Vassar College in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. In her spare time, she’s a comedian and contributor for Reductress and The Onion.
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