-
"And as of today TikTok is back!"
-
Could pro-Palestine content
on TikTok
-
be a factor in the proposed
TikTok ban?
-
"Typically, the Israelis are good at PR.
-
What's happened here?
-
How have they,
-
how have they and we been
so ineffective at communicating
-
the realities there
and our point of view?"
-
On Sunday, a new US law banning
TikTok came into effect
-
for around 12 hours,
with this message showing up.
-
The move was reportedly over concerns
for user privacy and national security.
-
"If you look at the postings on TikTok
and the number of mentions
-
of Palestinians relative
to other social media sites,
-
it's overwhelmingly so
among TikTok broadcasts.
-
So I'd know that's of a real interest
-
and the president will get
the chance to take action
-
in that regard."
-
Some US politicians have said that the
app spreads anti-Israel propaganda.
-
"When you have Hamas, Iran, China
endorsing these protests,
-
it speaks volumes
to the absurdity of them.
-
It also highlights exactly
why we included
-
the TikTok bill in the foreign
supplemental aid package,
-
because you're seeing how
these kids are being manipulated
-
by certain groups or entities
or countries."
-
Congressman Mike Lawler,
-
together with former
Representative Mike Gallar
-
introduced the Protecting Americans
-
from Foreign Adversary Controlled
Applications Act
-
which includes the TikTok ban.
Galler wrote an article:
-
"Why Do Young Americans
Support Hamas? Look at Tiktok."
-
while Mike Lawler described
the pro-Palestine campus protests
-
as motivated by
-
"outside paid agitators and activists."
-
And they aren't the only ones.
-
Nikki Haley,
a former presidential candidate,
-
who signed an Israeli bomb with:
"Finish them" declared
-
that simply by watching TikTok,
users could become anti-Semitic.
-
"Well, I'll be the first one to say
Americans should not weigh in
-
on who is the head of Israel.
-
We just need to support Israel
regardless of who the head is."
-
Many of these politicians
that are against TikTok
-
receive significant donations
from pro-Israel lobbying groups.
-
"AIPAC is the American-Israel
Public Affairs Committee
-
And they didn't start out as
a PAC, in the sense of a
-
political action committee, but now
they have a political action committee.
-
Ostensibly, it's a group of Americans
who lobby on behalf of Israel."
-
"AIPAC is one of the two most powerful
lobbies in the United States."
-
"For every 30 minutes that someone
watches TikTok every day,
-
they become 17% more anti-Semitic,
-
more pro-Hamas,
based on doing that."
-
One of the biggest backers
of the TikTok ban
-
is the Jewish Federations
of North America.
-
They've praised the move,
accusing TikTok of spreading
-
anti-Semitic content.
-
This is the same group that has
dismissed reports by Amnesty
-
on Israel's apartheid practices
-
and donated millions
to organizations like Zaka,
-
the group who is behind the false
claim of the "beheaded babies."
-
In response,
TikTok released a statement
-
pointing out that all anti-Semitic
and Holocaust denial content
-
is immediately removed when flagged.
-
It gets even stranger.
-
Anti-Semitic content has skyrocketed
on X since Elon Musk's takeover.
-
In fact, Elon Musk himself
has faced criticism
-
for appearing to promote
anti-Semitic content.
-
Yet, there's no movement to ban X.
-
"We're hearing reports out of Bloomberg
that Elon Musk might buy TikTok."
-
Meta has been accused of silencing
Palestinian voices for years.
-
"Most of my content, my stories,
and my posts are being removed
-
—actively removed from Instagram."
-
Reports from Hamleh, the Arab
Center for Social Media Advancement,
-
reveal devastating impacts
on Palestinian influencers and journalists.
-
Posts supporting Palestine
are often shadow-banned,
-
with creators saying
they've been affected
-
by the tech giant's
discriminatory practices,
-
a claim Meta denies.
-
Pro-Palestine content
isn't unique to TikTok.
-
According to Statista,
-
Instagram had 6 million posts
with #FreePalestine
-
on November 7th, 2023,
-
and 230,000 with hashtag
#StandWithIsrael.
-
So why target TikTok?
-
Banning TikTok won't necessarily
silence pro-Palestinian voices,
-
but it does raise the question:
Who decides what voices get heard?