Sen. Josh Hawley calls for TikTok ban over Israel-Hamas war content

Sen. Josh Hawley calls for TikTok ban over Israel-Hamas war content
by Sheri Walsh
Washington DC (UPI) Nov 7, 2023

Sen. Josh Hawley is calling on the Biden administration to ban TikTok over what he says is increased anti-Israel, pro-Hamas content on the platform.

Hawley, R-Mo., sent a letter Tuesday to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who is also the chairwoman for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, urging her to ban all ByteDance-controlled apps.

"TikTok -- and its parent company ByteDance -- are threats to American national security," Hawley wrote. "While data security issues are paramount, less often discussed is TikTok's power to radically distort the world-picture that America's young people encounter."

"Want to know why so many American students suddenly support pro-genocide Hamas? Take a look at TikTok," Hawley wrote Tuesday in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

In addition to the letter, Hawley has sponsored legislation to ban TikTok over the platform's handling of personal data. He plans to fast track a vote on the Senate floor this week, according to his office.

Last year, Congress passed Hawley's No TikTok on Government Devices Act which removed the social media platform from federal devices over security concerns with China, where ByteDance is headquartered.

But, Hawley's No TikTok on United States Devices Act failed to reach unanimous consent in March after it was objected to by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

Montana became the first state to ban TikTok in May.

On Tuesday, Hawley cited Israel's war with Hamas as a "crucial test case" of TikTok's influence.

"According to one poll, 51% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 believe that Hamas's murder of civilians was justified -- a statistic notably different from other age cohorts," Hawley said. "Analysts have attributed this disparity to the ubiquity of anti-Israel content on TikTok, where most young Internet users get their information about the world."

Hawley added that the disparity and the viewpoints of younger Americans "align with the Chinese government's foreign policy preferences."

"Political manipulation is business as usual for TikTok," Hawley said.

"The longer this app is allowed to operate in the United States, the longer its Chinese Communist Party overseers will apparently be able to propagandize Americans," the senator added. "This is unacceptable."