This is the Part 3 finale of an analytical series on the U.S. TikTok ban.
In April of 2024, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was passed, which ultimately put the TikTok buy-or-sell into law (1). It had first passed in the House, then the Senate, eventually being signed by then president, Joe Biden (2). The bill gave ByteDance 9 months to divest its U.S. operations, or it would be lights out for TikTok (3).
TikTok responded with unsuccessful attempts to challenge the legality of the law on the basis of limiting first amendment rights. A federal court, then the Supreme Court, upheld the law. The Supreme Court ruled that the risks to national security outweighed the restrictions on free speech the law would impose (1).
With the ban in place, you may be wondering how the app remains functional. For that, you can thank President Donald Trump who has issued multiple delays in order to create more time for a U.S. buyer to be arranged. In essence, Trump’s delays still force the app to be sold eventually, but allow for it to remain functional and unpenalized in the meantime (4).
For some time, it has appeared that the purchasers, according to Trump, will be a group of American investors. The stake of these American investors would dwarf that of ByteDance, which is expected to hold less than 20% of the company. Data would be managed by Oracle cloud infrastructure, and, critically, control of the algorithm would be in the hands of American investors. Trump himself mentioned the investors set to be involved, including Larry Ellis of Oracle, Michael Dell of Dell Technologies, and Rupert Murdoch of Fox Corporation (3).
All three of the aforementioned are indeed ardent Zionists, and combined with the fact that the American investors would be granted control over the algorithm, this adds further confirmation that TikTok’s forced divestment was indeed, in part, to allow for Israel to save face by procuring a Zionist distortion of the Gaza genocide–replacing the unadultured humane reaction of viewers with Israeli propaganda.
The Fundamental Deception
Although deals like this may be framed as helping Americans by supporting our allies, the idea that Israel operates in the U.S.’s best interest deserves to be reevaluated. Along with shifts in public opinion about Palestine, there has been a deeper questioning of the “benefit” that Israel brings to America. Rather than aiding the U.S., it appears that our support of Israel is actually a detriment. Not only is the tremendous financial aid that we send abroad used to murder innocents, but it is also desperately needed by Americans. Prime examples of this are raised by political commentator Sami Hamdi (5). He argues that the billions sent in aid to Israel in light of American national crises indicate that Israel is a priority above America. From this rhetoric the phrase “Israel first” is coined.
When Hurricane Milton ravaged Florida in October of 2024, causing tremendous damage to homes and businesses, many began to question the aid being sent to foreign governments. Take Rep. Cory Mills who claimed that the Biden-Harris administration left North Carolina and Florida behind, instead preferring to aid Ukraine and illegal immigrants.6 Many others have made similar remarks regarding the aid sent to Israel, which totals a shocking $328 billion from 1946 to 2024 (7). Unemployment, natural disasters, and homelessness–all of which lose potential funding because Israelis deserve free health care and weaponry to massacre Palestinians (5).
Other conservative political commentators, notably Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, have cracked down on the “Israel first” mindset too for much the same reasons (5).
It is clear then, that TikTok’s forced transfer is not about China. Israel and its lobby cannot stand to have such a historic reframing of their contributions–nay, detriments–to American society. They wish to return Americans to isolation from any anti-Israel content, so that they can spoonfeed them only what Israel desires. A terrible parasitism indeed.
Sources
- https://www.aclu.org/cases/tiktok-inc-et-al-v-garland-amicus
- https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-timeline-ban-biden-india-d3219a32de913f8083612e71ecf1f428
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyng762q4eo
- https://builtin.com/articles/us-tiktok-ban
- https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4938613-florida-north-carolina-hurricane-aid/
- https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts
