TikTok Is Facing Its Biggest Threat

TikTok is facing what it views as perhaps its biggest crisis yet, with the world’s most popular app facing an intense backlash over the perception it favors pro-Palestinian and, at times, antisemitic content.

Citing anti-Israel posts that surfaced on TikTok since the Gaza conflict began and a decades-old Osama bin Laden letter that circulated this week, Washington lawmakers have renewed calls to ban the app in the U.S, according to The Wall Street Journal.

TikTok executives view this ban attempt more seriously than previous ones, according to people inside the company, and have rushed to respond to what they view as an inaccurate and unfair narrative.

Top executives set up meetings with Jewish leaders and celebrities to tell them they take their concerns seriously. They published a post that argues it has been fair in moderating pro-Israel and pro-Palestine videos. When a venture capitalist tweeted that his independent research had found TikTok favors pro-Palestinian content—and said he is convinced it explains why more young people are opposing Israel—TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew personally called him to argue the point.

These efforts haven’t yet stalled the narrative. Nikki Haley, rising in the polls in the Republican presidential primary race, said Friday that the appearance of the bin Laden letter on TikTok is justification for banning the app. And lawmakers say the anti-Israel and bin Laden videos should spur new legislative efforts.

All social-media platforms have been flooded with disinformation, gory content and propaganda since the conflict broke out in early October and have struggled to enforce their respective policies against such posts. But TikTok, where a sizable percentage of young people now get their news, has received the most scrutiny.

This crisis is testing TikTok’s Washington-based lobbying operation—which has spent $7.4 million so far this year, on pace to double the amount from last year—and its chief communications officer, Zenia Mucha, a high-profile recent hire who once held the same role at Disney. And it presents the biggest challenge to date for Chew, who endured a hostile Congressional hearing in March.

TikTok is unlike other social-media platforms because it is owned by a Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and thus vulnerable to shifting political winds.