Blinken Blames TikTok for Criticism of Israel
"Social media sites like TikTok are partly to blame for widespread criticism of Israel’s war effort against Hamas in Gaza, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The comments came as part of a conversation at the McCain Institute’s 2024 Sedona Forum in Sedona, Arizona, between Secretary Blinken and US senator Mitt Romney.
The Utah Republican asked the top diplomat why “the PR has been so awful” against Israel since the beginning of the 7 October conflict.
“Now of course we’re on an intravenous feed of information with new impulses, inputs every millisecond,” Mr Blinken said. “And of course the way this has played out on social media has dominated the narrative. You have a social media ecosystem, environment in which context, history, facts get lost and the emotion, the impact of images dominate. We can’t discount that, but I think it also has a very very challenging effect on the narrative.”
Mr Romney appeared to agree, saying the effect Mr Blinken was describing was why “there was such overwhelming support for us to potentially shut down TikTok.”
The US secretary, at another point in the conversation, also emphasised the “inescapable reality” that Palestinian civilians “continue to suffer grievously.”
“We have to be focused on that and attentive to that.”
The comments echoed a wider narrative that’s been put forth about critics of Israel in the US, particularly on college campuses: that their criticisms don’t stem from the facts of the conflict, and instead are the product of alarming outside influence.
Protesting students interviewed by The Independent said they had been moved to act by seeing images of destruction and suffering caused by Israel in Gaza, with the full backing of the US.
“You know, when I wake up in the morning and see a video of a parent carrying bits of their child in a plastic bag, that should not be normal, that should not be acceptable,” said Ava Lyon-Sereno, a Columbia student protester."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/blinken-blames-tiktok-social-media-175257830.html
Now we know why both political parties want to shutdown TikTok.