Civil Society Express Concern over the Impending Sale of U.S. TikTok

We, the undersigned civil society organizations, are deeply concerned about the sale of U.S. TikTok. In 2024, when congressional action announced a wholesale ban of the platform in the United States, 7amleh issued a statement of concern, and many of the underlying causes for concern remain. We maintain that this sale does not improve data protection and privacy for TikTok users, and will furthermore harm users’ access to information and their freedom of expression, specifically with regards to Palestine, and potentially serve to support disinformation campaigns about Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

These concerns stem from public statements made by United States and Israeli government officials and investors involved in the deal which raise concern about their lack of care for business and human rights principles. For example, speaking at a public event in 2024, former Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney openly admitted that efforts to ban TikTok in the United States were linked to U.S. government concerns that pro-Palestinian content was spreading on the platform. 

In a recent meeting with social media influencers in the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that social media was an “...important weapon…” and regarding the pending sale of TikTok, called it “the most important purchase going on right now”. Furthermore, evidence has come out that Israel is offering around $7,000 per post to influencers who post pro-Israel content on their accounts. These payments are in addition to a $45 million contract the state of Israel has with Google to  spread “hasbara” (the Hebrew word for propaganda), including  funding for YouTube advertisements denying Israeli-produced famine and starvation in Gaza. 

Finally, U.S. tech giant Oracle is a central player in the deal, and has a well documented anti-Palestinian bias within the firm, with executives stating “For employees, it’s clear: if you’re not for America or Israel, don’t work here—this is a free country.” Oracle employees even participated in voluntary efforts to elevate pro-Israeli narratives on social media after the beginning of the genocide. 

These public statements and actions from relevant actors, make us concerned that content moderation schemes under this new ownership will suppress certain views and perspectives, especially those that advocate for Palestinian human rights. Though incidents of censorship and hate speech have been documented, TikTok’s global content moderation policies have been less suppressive of Palestinian narratives. At a time when the other major social media platforms, such as X and Meta, have well-documented issues with censorship, proliferation of hate speech and disinformation, we do not want to see TikTok follow suit. 

In a time when a ceasefire agreement in Gaza has just been finalized, and Palestinians in Gaza are trying to rebuild their lives, it is more important now than ever that there is open access to information about the documentation of the destruction of Gaza and war crimes committed there over the past two years. As members of the international press and war crimes investigators hopefully gain entrance into Gaza to help the international community understand the scale of human rights violations over the last two years, there must be unfettered access to what they document. TikTok and other major social media platforms play a crucial role in providing access to information and forming public understanding around Gaza, and the current sale of TikTok in the United States gives cause for concern that future iterations of the platform will potentially censor content from Gaza.Thus, we call on TikTok’s U.S. platform to ensure the following:

1. Commit to fair, transparent, and unbiased content moderation policies that respect freedom of expression, and align with normative business and human rights policies

2. Transparently commit resources to stopping to spread of disinformation and hateful incitement to violence on its platform

3. Implement robust human rights due diligence and commit to working in a practice of co-design with civil society

4. Create clear, transparent, and effective appeal and escalation processes for users who feel their content has been unjustly taken down

Sincerely,

• 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media

• American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee 

• Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC)

• EKO

• Fight For The Future

• Media Justice

• MPower Change

• Muslim Counterpublics Lab

• Tech for Palestine

• US Campaign For Palestinian Rights