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TikTok Ban: Was the US trying to silence pro-Palestinian content?

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

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
04:37

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