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this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
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TikTok was replete with all sorts of advertisements, marketing campaigns, and influencer content. Nobody is claiming it lacked a surplus of propaganda.
The claim Biden's administration made was that Beijing bureaucrats were dictating the social media feed of American TikTok users based on Palestine-friendly media content served up during the 2024 primaries. This is a fully unsubstantiated allegation. Nevertheless, it was used to justify the forced sale of the US branch of the application to Trump-aligned business interests.
Well we can't do more than speculate since we don't have inside information, but this push started during Trump's last term before Biden was elected so it seems both of them are aligned on this point. Considering everyone is using social media to push their own nationalist propaganda, I don't see how one could argue China wasn't doing it too especially considering they're also a global superpower just like the US. Why wouldn't they use it for this purpose?
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/06/900019185/trump-signs-executive-order-that-will-effectively-ban-use-of-tiktok-in-the-u-s
We have individuals in the government on record for their reasoning.
...
I'm not sure what this proves as I put zero stock in the word of a Republican senator. He could be telling the truth or he could be an opportunist using the support for Israel's genocide in Palestine to push the narrative he wants.
He was the primary advocate and original co-sponsor for the bill that Joe Biden eventually signed. If you're not taking his word at why he authored the legislation, advanced it through his own committee, and pushed it onto the President's desk, who else are you going to listen to?
Again I don't see what this angle proves or disproves? I don't trust his word because Republican politicians have zero credibility. I also think Joe Biden has zero credibility and them advancing this through bureaucratic procedure doesn't make it any more or less credible. Even if the claim that they used it to push anti-Israel propaganda is false, it doesn't mean the claim that China used it to push propaganda is false.
Given what we know about social media and powerful governments leveraging it to their benefit, my default belief is to assume that they were using it for this purpose until proven otherwise. Nobody has yet attempted to even make an argument as to why they wouldn't also be using it for the same purpose, especially considering they've been running "the great firewall" to control the flow of information to their own population for more than 20 years.
They're highly credible on their professed loyalty and support for Israel.
TikTok is not a Chinese company, it is not run by Chinese apparatchiks, and it isn't integrated into the Chinese state media system. It is a Singapore based company invested into by a conglomeration of international investors.
Why would you assume the Chinese government is calling the shots and not any of the governments of other TikTok investors?
It isn't as though TikTok lacked Israeli-favorable propaganda. The Israeli media simply didn't trend as well as Palestinian Rights media. How does this lead you to conclude China is to blame? Wouldn't a Palestine-symathetic state be a more likely culprit? Qatar, for instance?