By Izzy Lewis
At an event with pro-Israel US influencers over the weekend, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the looming sale of TikTok, describing social media platforms as some of the most important “weapons” in Israel’s arsenal to secure “bases” of support in the US and around the world.
“The most important purchase that is going on right now is, class?”, he asked the assembled Zionist influencers, before giving them his own answer: “TikTok”
Netanyahu is candid that Donald Trump’s deal to force the sale of US-TikTok to a consortium of right-wing and pro-Israeli billionaires is a huge win for Israel.
However, in most mainstream media explainers of TikTok’s impending takeover, Israel is not even named as a factor in the story. Media outlets have reported Trump's executive order as being about Chinese influence, child protection, and Trump’s attempts to bolster right-wing influence over social media.
The truth is TikTok’s forced sale would probably never have happened without lawmakers becoming concerned about TikTok content sympathetic towards Palestinians and pro-Israel lobbyists claiming TikTok had an algorithmic bias against Israel.
In Australia, the Coalition is already pushing for the government to force users onto Trump’s version of TikTok, and if that debate is to be had, Australians must be informed about this new version's role as a “weapon” for Netanyahu’s regime.
