TikTok has long been in the crosshairs of powerful pro-Israel lobbying organizations due to the speed and ease with which content critical of Israeli atrocities and apartheid spreads on its platform. The risk younger users might question the concertedly concealed, horrific reality of Israel’s occupation has become all the graver throughout the Gaza genocide. Now, those same groups have corralled U.S. lawmakers into launching a fatal attack on free speech online.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    If politicians from both parties agree on something like this, the reason probably isn’t what they’re telling us…

    It’s usually because a donor that gives to both parties told them to

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Americans should lobby their government to give them money and then take that money and us it to lobby them for more money. Seems to work for AIPAC

  • Sonori@beehaw.org
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    3 months ago

    Not to cast dispersions on the everything starts with the jews in Israel narrative, but didn’t most of the political movement to force the sale of US TikTok to a US owner and the current law to do so long predate Oct 7 and the more even distribution of support shown on TikTok months afterword. Like I hate to break it to you but congress, especially this congress and the maze of think tanks that draft their laws, just arn’t that fast and efficient at implementing new policy.

    • nekandro@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      AIPAC has been remarkably successful this election season. As a relatively unified body, their ability to rally political support is much higher than Congress as a wholem

    • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      Do you think that Israel just sprang into existence on Oct 7th? I am not going to say the Tik tok has anything to do with Israel, but just because congress was muttering about Tik Tok before Oct 7th, doesn’t absolve Israel. It is entirely possible that Israel didn’t like Tik Tok before, It’s also possible that Israel was ambivalent about TikTok before, but then when Israeli atrocities were shared on the platform, now Israel wants it banned.

      • Sonori@beehaw.org
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        3 months ago

        No I don’t think Israel sprang into existence on Oct 7. I’m not sure how you could even get that from my comment. The entire theory we are talking about is however predicated on the idea that the public sentiment on Tiktok about Isreal’s response to Oct 7 is what primarily drove the current law, so one would expect the cause the theory blames to have occurred before the effect, not after.

    • quindraco@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      Not to cast dispersions

      Aspersions, not dispersions.

      on the everything starts with the jews in Israel narrative

      It is anti-Semitic to conflate Israel with “The Jews”.

      didn’t most of the political movement to force the sale of US TikTok to a US owner and the current law to do so long predate Oct 7

      No. The bill didn’t even exist until March 5th, 2024.

      Like I hate to break it to you but congress, especially this congress and the maze of think tanks that draft their laws, just arn’t that fast and efficient at implementing new policy.

      Look up the details on Juneteenth becoming a Federal holiday. Congress moves with lightning speed when it pulls its heads out of its asses.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3 months ago

      Yes. Let’s not make up reasons to hate Israel when there’s so many already.

      This particular one also feeds into the antisemitism narrative, if we take it up falsely, like was done here.

    • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      .ml thinks that banning TikTok is the end of the world. So they attach everything to it.

  • UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I dislike the Israeli government as much as the next lemming, but TikTok might just be worse… No matter who supports it, I see zero wort in that platform. It’s genuinely horrifying.

    • pop@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      Good god, thanks for coming out and telling us how you really feel.

      A video platform that you and every other person can stop using any moment is worse than thousands of innocent people dying at the hands of a genocidal army.

      You, my dude are genuinely horrifying

      • UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        It’s a platform in the hands of a totalitarian state, with a way bigger army, that might just imprison or enslave you on a whim. And that state uses said platform to spy on hundreds of millions, find people with the wrong attitude or beliefs, and to control information that spreads and to whom.

        If you think a couple ten thousand dead are more important, I’d say you’re either naive or delusional. I don’t care whether you’re afraid of me, I’d just advise you to be more afraid of reality.