According to a prominent pro-Israel lobbyist, the US elite’s battle against TikTok should just be the start. Because “the next war” will be just as much about controlling the narrative online as it is about the physical fighting.
“How Israel and its allies perform online” matters
Political content on TikTok played an important part in the US establishment losing control of the narrative on Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It couldn’t use TV or newspapers to manufacture consent for war crimes as it had in the past. So political elites decided to take on TikTok, the only social-media giant not under the control of the US-based super-rich. They could trust the billionaire-owned US media and Facebook owner Meta to follow their pro-Israel lead, but TikTok reflected the overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian sentiment of its millions of younger users instead.
Prominent pro-Israel lobbyists like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) played an important role in pushing TikTok up the political agenda. And it’s ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt who highlighted the importance of the propaganda war in a recent comment in Israel’s parliament. Drop Site shared a video where Greenblatt says:
Capturing TikTok might seem less meaningful than holding on to Mount Hermon… but this is urgent, because the next war will be decided based on how Israel and its allies perform online as much as offline.
They’re telling you out in the open why they want TikTok banned, because—by humanizing Palestinians and showing Israel’s crimes—it makes the endless propaganda the West is flooded with less effective. https://t.co/Ze7UJj8ncZ
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) January 19, 2025
In a leaked audio recording, Greenblatt had previously said:
The issue of United States support for Israel is not left and right. It is young and old.
And referring to TikTok’s immense popularity among younger demographics, he insisted:
We really have a TikTok problem, a Gen Z problem
He’s not alone when it comes to TikTok
Common Dreams wrote in May 2024, meanwhile, about the role Israel’s genocide played in pushing US politicians to act. Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, for example, asserted:
Some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down, potentially, TikTok or other entities of that nature. 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.
Here, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Sen. Mitt Romney tell you explicitly why they thought it was so important to ban TikTok, and why they finally got enough votes for it a few months after Oct. 7 and once the ADL demanded it. Just listen:pic.twitter.com/kRtM8kaIMz https://t.co/8nLuWZVcCb
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 19, 2025
It added that:
Right-wing lawmakers and commentators have suggested students have been indoctrinated by content shared on social media platforms including TikTok and Instagram, and wouldn’t be protesting otherwise.
To be clear, it's not some antisemitic conspiracy theory that US lawmakers voted to ban TikTok in order to shut down criticism of Israel among young people. They openly admitted that this was in fact what they were doing. pic.twitter.com/n5t4WGdKbP
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) January 19, 2025
Another key pro-Israel lobby group is the the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has massive power in US politics. And as Truthout reported:
Vocal proponents of a TikTok ban are among the top recipients of donations from the pro-Israeli lobby group AIPAC.
So while Israel is not the only issue in the battle against TikTok, it certainly is a key issue.
The propaganda war is raging. Which side are you on?
Israel stopped journalists going into Gaza for a reason. It had to try and control the narrative as it decimated the occupied territory and murdered thousands upon thousands of civilians, including 18,000 children. But brave Palestinian journalists on the ground risked their lives to get the story out. And while Israel reportedly killed over 200 media workers, independent journalists and anti-genocide citizens around the world spread the news far and wide with the help of social media. They were on the frontline of the propaganda battle, on the side of truth and humanity.
Media control is essential for the corrupt political establishment to keep its power in the US (and elsewhere). The overwhelming majority of the US political establishment is pro-Israel, largely because Israel has always been an outpost, a proxy, a tool, and a defender of the US empire’s interests in the Middle East. In particular, it helped to separate Arab territories that may well have united if there hadn’t been a powerful, divisive force between them. And this helped to ensure that the region’s precious natural resources either remained in friendly hands or could be obtained via covert or overt hostility.
A change in people’s perceptions of Israel, then, is dangerous for US elites. It makes them very uncomfortable. So although it was initially Republicans pushing for a TikTok ban during Donald Trump’s first administration, it was the Gaza genocide that really brought Democrats along for the ride too. Both wings of the corporate duopoly in the US knew they needed to defend the imperial mission, and thus rushed to Israel’s defence.
Attacking TikTok was one way to do that. But as Greenblatt suggests, the battle is far from over. And everyone must choose a side. Support the independent journalists fighting back, or submit to a future of mind control and oppression.
Featured image via the Canary
