Why people think the US bill to ban TikTok is linked to pro-Palestine content

After a bill in US Congress was overwhelmingly passed to ban the social media app TikTok, social media users outraged online and linked the move to pro-Israel groups trying to curb the surge of pro-Palestinian content on the platform.

The Wall Street Journal also reported last week that there was “new momentum in part because of anger over TikTok videos about the Israel-Hamas conflict”.

In another report by the WSJ, Democrat Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said it was the war in Gaza that led him to support a ban on TikTok. Krishnamoorthi said “Oct 7 really opened people’s eyes to what’s happening on TikTok”.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley sent a letter to the Biden administration in November calling for the ban of TikTok. In the letter, he specifically cited the “ubiquity of anti-Israel content on TikTok” as one of his main reasons for advocating for the ban.

Others pointed to the idea that the goal of pro-Israel groups is not to ban the social media giant, but for a pro-Israel entity to purchase the application.Last week, former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he is putting together a group of investors to try and buy TikTok.

“They are not trying to ban . They are trying to use government power to force TikTok to be taken over by pro-Israel ownership to silence criticism of and ,” said Craig Mokhiber, the former director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

TechNerdWizard42,

It is but only as a secondary. The US can’t censor Tiktok and therefore anti-genocide content, often directly from those being genocided, makes its way to their eyeballs. Freedom of speech and or individualistic journalism.

But the US obviously doesn’t like this, and that’s what the ban is for. Sorry “sale that is not even slightly reasonable and is more akin to highway robbery than capitalism”, not “ban”.

turkishdelight,

Google, Meta and Twltter censor the social networks bases on what American government wants… Tiktok does not do the same… That is why America wants to ban Tiktok.

OldWoodFrame,

I listen to a podcast with Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher and Scott is a real window into the thought process of older pro-Israel people. He keeps repeating that China is making the younger generation more pro-Palestine because the pro-Palestine videos are shared way more on TikTok and never mentions the more likely alternative… people on TikTok engage more with pro-Palestine videos so the algorithm pushes them. It’s a younger, more pro-Palestine audience to begin with.

aubeynarf,

Linkerbaan, where are you from?

WEFshill202,

Netherlands

maynarkh,

They could be from South Africa or may be some weirdo who likes how the Dutch language sounds

xmunk,

Hey now, Americans don’t need an excuse to hate China.

In truth the GOP support is almost certainly tied to silencing gen z politically though gen z is significantly more conservative than the millennials, specifically among men.

VelvetStorm,

Do you have any proof of that?

xmunk,

Any proof of the internal motivations of batshit insane politicians?

aubeynarf,

You did say “in truth … almost certainly”

VelvetStorm,

gen z is significantly more conservative than the millennials

I was specifically talking about that.

xmunk,

There isn’t great data on just how conservative gen z is overall but there is a clear gender divide.

businessinsider.com/gen-z-changes-political-divid…

And

americansurveycenter.org/…/are-young-men-becoming…

Bakkoda,

I gotta say i read the first article and the takeaway i got was Gen Z Republicans disagree with current Republican politicians more than they agree. They disagree on governments role, climate change and several other key factors. I didn’t see anything about them being a majority or even being aligned with the current “Conservative” viewpoint on any major issue let alone some or all.

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