For years, Republicans in Congress have sounded alarms over TikTok, often citing concerns about the platform's Chinese ownership and its access to data. But now, they're arguing that TikTok has put its thumb on the scale for content surrounding the war in Gaza. Their evidence? That data measuring the hashtags used on TikTok shows far more videos with pro-Palestinian tags than pro-Israeli ones. Earlier this month, GOP Representative Mike Gallagher published an essay accusing TikTok of “brainwashing” young Americans against Israel, calling the platform “digital fentanyl.”
This week, Micah sits down with Drew Harwell, tech reporter for the Washington Post who's written multiplearticles about TikTok's reputation during the war, to talk about who is on the app, what hashtag data can (and cannot) tell us, and how one small set of videos snowballed into headlines.
This is a segment from our November 17, 2023 show, TikTok In the Crosshairs… Again. And Saying Goodbye to Jezebel.