TikTok, the American Government's Hurt Feelings, and Palestine

 Event Summary:

As the Israel-Gaza war continues to take place Tik-Tok has been one of the biggest influences on the people’s opinions about the event taking place worldwide. While the United States has been showing more support towards Israel during this war out of the 150 million Americans using tik Tok have shown significant favoritism towards the opposing side being Palestine. Since this media app allows for freedom to post about any view users have the United States government feel very threatened at the hashtag statist comparison between #standwithpalestine having 2.9 billion views and #standwithislael having only 200 million views. Due to these statistics the United States government is projecting that this is yet another reason to ban tik tok in America. With the United States government accusing the over pouring support of Palestine a result of the Chinese governments preference in this war, the Chinese media company the owns tik tok states they have no influence on who views what videos stating that pro-Israel and pro-Palestine videos have both been relatively spilt in the millions as far as views go. Along with the US government groups of Jewish individuals are also calling on the creators of tik tok to set up a harsher monitoring system and a better guide to public disclosure as well. 

My Take:

So, if America has created the right of “freedom of speech” to all who reside in this country why are they so hurt at the fact that while the government supports Israel its people choose to support Palestine? The power of events, videos, and event interviews of people from both countries during this war will give tik tok users the closes in person understanding of the impacts both countries face. I saw a tik tok interview with a family in Palestine who suffered heartbreaking consequences of this war which gained millions of views but within the same day I also saw the same video format of an Israel family which also gained millions of views. If I had to figure out if the Chinese government was out to “brainwash” American citizens, I would complete disagree. Users across America as well as any other country have probably seen both sides of this war broadcasted over tik tok it’s the American government who is getting all hurt that their citizens don’t hold the same mindset on this war as they do.

My Question to You:

If you were in the US government how would you factor in all the events through this war on Tik Tok and the national security of America? Would you agree that this Chinese app is tampering with viral videos to better match their beliefs? 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/02/tiktok-israel-hamas-video-brainwash/

Democrat Jeff Jackson Narrows in on the Major Tool of Tik Tok for Campaign Strategy

 With over 150 million American voters accessing Tik Tok on a regular daily basis Democrats are starting to feel like they can utilize this media platform to increase the results for their campaigns. As Elena Moore suggests as congressmen and honestly anyone affiliated with our politics makes a change or decisions the country wants the insight and to be able to speak about any events that go on through our political systems. 

 For example, congressman Jeff Jackson decided to return to his district and in doing so he utilized tik tok in creating a short clip informing the viewers on tik tok about the event. In return he has caught both the attention and interest of many more possible voters than if he wouldn’t have shared a simple yet intriguing event with the public via tik tok. Through posting updates weekly to his viewers on tik tok Jeff Jackson has accumulated over 2 million followers on tik tok (@jeffjacksonnc). Through him sharing what he knows to the public and creating an influencer of himself the amount of people who gained trust in him and support him will likely increase his chances of gaining the position as Attorney General of Capital Hill in the 2024 election season. Of the politicians in Capitall Hill the small amount who do have and utilize tik tok are solely of the democratic party. The key part in why not as many people within our political system have tik tok is because being able to get through to people via this media platform takes the skill of understand the best way to be informative and to grasp the most viewers interest at the same time. So, do you think all politicians regardless of party took the time to understand what format information is spread to tik tok viewers it would result in a more competitive election and have a better outcome towards our politicians in office?https://www.npr.org/2023/11/01/1209857239/democrats-consider-how-tiktok-may-fit-into-their-2024-campaign-strategy 

To Ban or Not to Ban Tik-Tok?

 

The heated debate on whether the US government should ban the app Tik-Tok or even possibly force Chinas Byte Dance Corporation (owner of Tik Tok) to sell to an American business stand at a constant issue within the White House. The main fear driving this issue is the fact that so many critics feel that with the Chinese Communist Party being the ones to run and influence Tik-Tok they have very easy ways to extract American data and even tweak Tik-Toks algorithm which would result in a negative sway on American opinions of our politics and government. But while all this debate goes on more and more political affiliated groups and people continue to use the app which is showing great returns. One example is when Congressman Jamaal Bowen created a Tik Tok account and created a simple 60 second video of him making popcorn in the cloakroom inside the congress house while ranting about the struggles McCarthy has been experiencing with gaining votes. This simple video produced over 30,000 views within days drawing in to focus on his account for giving viewers a “behind the scenes” video of the congress house. Not only was this video entertaining but viewers were also becoming more politically informed at a faster rate. So, what do you think about the possible Tik Tok ban? Is all that easy publicity going to harm politicians more than it would benefit them?