Some social media users are accusing Congress of using a ban against the social media application TikTok to silence criticism of Israel across the U.S.
Over the weekend, the House of Representatives passed legislation that seeks to bar TikTok from operating in the U.S. if it does not divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
The app has sparked privacy concerns due to ByteDance's alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The company and other critics of the legislation argue that the bill would amount to a ban on the app and would raise concerns about freedom of speech.
The bill will now move to the Senate where it is expected to pass as it also contains foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine. Israel has remained in a war with Hamas militants in Gaza, following an attack on October 7.
Amid the vote on the bill, some social media users criticized Congress, saying that the ban is in an effort to suppress opposition to Israel, amid their war with Hamas militants in Gaza.
"They want to BAN TIKTOK because the youth SUPPORT PALESTINE," commentator Jackson Hinkle wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
X user @StopZionistHate wrote, "They aren't trying to ban tiktok. They just want tiktok to be taken over by ownership that they can control, in order to silence criticism of Israel."
Businessman Gerald Celente wrote, "The Israel Lobby is coming after TikTok b/c that's the last outlet where Israel can face criticism...."
X user @SirStevenKJ wrote, "The House passed the bill to control TikTok because it allows criticism of Israel and Ukraine. Literally what it's about. This will be used to censor X, Truth Social, Rumble, etc."
The Citizen Free Press shared a video of Scott Galloway, a professor at New York University (NYU) speaking about recent pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses and said, "I think we are being manipulated, specifically youth, who their frame for the world is TikTok, and if you look at TikTok there are 52 videos that are pro-Hamas or pro-Palestinian for every one served on Israel."
In a statement over the weekend, a spokesperson for TikTok told Newsweek, "It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy, annually."
Newsweek reached out to TikTok via email on Tuesday for further comment.
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