It’s oddly coincidental that the week American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobbyists descend en masse on Capitol Hill to demand more weapons for Israel to obliterate Gaza, the House passes a bill to set the stage to ban TikTok, the social media platform live streaming Israel’s bombardment of Gaza to a generation of young people picking up Palestinian flags and shouting "Cease-fire now!”
The House bill, fate unknown in the Senate, requires the Chinese subsidiary Bytedance to sell off its shares and divest within six months of the legislation’s enactment or say goodbye to 170 million US TikTokers, almost half of them under the age of 30.
Santa Barbara Congressmember Salud Carbajal sided with the majority to give TikTok a likely heave ho, and was ready with a video-tweet defending his vote and pointing a finger at China minutes after the bill passed. “This is a data security bill,” said Carbajal, “one that would force TikTok and other foreign-owned social media apps to ensure that their databases — which are filled with your personal data — don’t have direct links to foreign governments …”