This week, Republicans in the United States openly criticized TikTok for allegedly pushing Pro-Palestinian content through its carefully-coded algorithm with the aim of “brainwashing”the country’s youth. Pushing the argument even further, Rep. Mike Gallagher claimed that the China-based video-sharing app was explicitly “tuned to prioritize polarizing outrage and addictive, brain-numbing nonsense (at best) and dangerous propaganda (at worst),” for its American users.
Although the software has repeatedly been accused for its impact on shaping, and even tailoring, users’ perspectives in a certain way, as it turns out, TikTok has alleged that it has nothing to do with the sudden surge in content advocating for the Palestine cause. In fact, it just seems as if young people are just overwhelmingly pro-Palestine.
In response to the wave of criticism it is currently facing, the Gen Z-dominated social media platform released a statement in which it claims that its “recommendation algorithm doesn’t ‘take sides’ and has rigorous measures in place to prevent manipulation.” Instead, it explained that “the content people see on TikTok is generated by our community and recommendations are based on the content people have previously engaged with.”
Mitigating the allegations made against them even further, TikTok also revealed that the probable cause as to why so much Pro-Palestinian content is circulating is because “Support for Israel has been lower among younger Americans for some time.” For reference, 60% of users in the United States are between 16 and 24.
There is a growing age gap between Americans who support Palestine and those whose opinions favor Israel. This generational divide, according to US author Eli Sperling, is because the older generation grew up during pre-1967 Israel, when the country was an “underdog”— which couldn’t be further from the impression that teens and young adults have of it today. As Israel continues its relentless bombing on Gaza and the Palestinian death toll mounts, one can only anticipate a further deepening of this divide.
