Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is once again renewing calls for a ban of the Chinese-controlled social media platform TikTok, because of the app’s apparent pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli stance.
According to the New York Times, since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, TikTok engagement for its #FreePalestine hashtag has dwarfed engagement for comparable Israeli hashtags.
Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) asserted that China was influencing content to push a pro-Palestine agenda on the platform, in a recent opinion piece for The Free Press. Gallagher outlined instances in which TikTok censored content in China, but did not provide evidence that the country was pushing pro-Palestinian content in recent months.
One possible explanation for TikTok’s apparent bias toward Palestine is its younger user base. The majority of TikTok users are younger than 25 years old, according to Statista. Younger Americans have been leaning toward a pro-Palestinian position in the conflict with Israel long before the recent escalation in the war, and years before TikTok was available on the app store, according to the Pew Research Center.
Another possible explanation for TikTok seeming lopsided toward Palestine is the fact that the app is not allowed in India. India is one of Israel’s biggest allies, and its citizens are predominantly very supportive of Israel.
Other social media apps, like Meta Platform's META Instagram or Elon Musk's X, see a large number of posts from Indian users, who typically support Israel in its conflict with Hamas. But, because the TikTok app is not available in India, there are no TikToks posted from Indians supporting Israel like there are thousands of tweets and Instagram posts in the same manner.
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