{"id":18878,"date":"2024-09-20T10:36:10","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T07:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/?p=18878"},"modified":"2024-09-20T15:38:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T12:38:34","slug":"tiktok-banned-my-new-book-even-before-it-was-published","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/tiktok-banned-my-new-book-even-before-it-was-published\/","title":{"rendered":"TikTok Banned My New Book Even Before It Was Published"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"direction: ltr;\">America\u2019s Silenced Majority remains pro-Jewish and overwhelmingly pro-Israel. But dynamics on social media, and a polarized political culture that broadcasts extremists too loudly, has given the haters an outsized profile.<\/h3>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\">Last month, <a href=\"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/its-not-just-a-jewish-crisis\/\">I interviewed my brother Tevi Troy<\/a> during the Jerusalem book launch of his latest, \u201cThe Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry.\u201d Eventually, he turned the tables, asking me about my book, \u201cTo Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream,\u201d published September 17. I summarized the argument: that the spread of aggressive, doctrinaire anti-Zionism in academia \u201cisn\u2019t just a Jewish crisis\u201d and \u201cisn\u2019t just a Zionist crisis,\u201d but is \u201ca crisis of liberalism\u201d and higher education. Somehow, TikTok decided to remove my two minute, eight second riff, declaring: \u201cThis video violates our Community Guidelines\u201d by passing on \u201cmisinformation.\u201d Apparently, TikTok and its Chinese owners are more bullish about America\u2019s universities than most of us are.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\" style=\"text-align: center;\">We posted this video on TikTok, but the platform took it down.<br \/>\nProf. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GilTroy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GilTroy<\/a> has some thoughts on this &gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/23cy5rCj6D\">t.co\/23cy5rCj6D<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UbzZaNpOcG\">pic.twitter.com\/UbzZaNpOcG<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2014 \u05d4\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05dc\u05de\u05d3\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05e2\u05dd \u05d4\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9 &#8211; JPPI (@JewishPolicy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JewishPolicy\/status\/1837044695379153053?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 20, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\">I tried understanding what triggered the ban. It mocked TikTok executives\u2019 repeated denials that TikTok has an antisemitism problem. The managers were reacting to assessments that in one year, the Jew-hating comments on the popular app rose 912 percent, that Jew-haters use code-words like \u201cjuice\u201d for Jews and \u201cH!tl3r\u201d and that the all-powerful algorithm, which pushes videos through TikTok\u2019s FYP For You Page tends to send viewers down conspiracy-oriented \u201crabbit holes,\u201d spewing Jew-hatred.<\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\">TikTok\u2019s Jew-hating problem predates October 7. Back in 2020, NBC News interviewed half a dozen teenagers who reported that \u201cthey experience antisemitism nearly every time they post content to the platform\u2026 whether or not the content is about their Judaism.\u201d Julia Massey told reporters that \u201cBefore, I guess, I \u2018came out\u2019 as Jewish on my TikTok \u2026 I was getting almost all positive response.\u201d But since one Jewish-oriented video, \u201cI\u2019ve received antisemitic comments, regardless of the content.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\">American Jews face double-trouble these days. Jew-hatred has gone from the margins to the Big Tent. America\u2019s Silenced Majority remains pro-Jewish and overwhelmingly pro-Israel. But dynamics on social media, and a polarized political culture that broadcasts extremists too loudly, has given the haters an outsized profile. And since Oct. 7, the intensity of pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist Jew-haters has shaped public discourse, eclipsing the quiet but less passionate support Jews and the Jewish State enjoy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\">At the same time, Jew-hatred, the longest and most plastic hatred, has also become the invisible hatred, the overlooked hatred, the excused hatred. Especially in universities, the zero-tolerance for other prejudices disappears when it comes to Jews. So Jews find them targeted by more American bullies than ever \u2013 as many American institutions downplay this growing scourge.<\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\">The TikTok problem reflects this double bind \u2013 while transcending the Jewish question too. TikTok\u2019s Chinese ownership worries Americans so much that Congress passed the \u201cProtecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,\u201d which President Joe Biden signed. It demands that TikTok be sold, to avoid this nefarious Chinese influence. While the Chinese enjoy access to 170 million users\u2019 private information, they also orchestrate the conversation. Somehow TikTok suppresses videos sympathetic to Tibetans and Uighurs oppressed by China, while boosting support for the Palestinians, among others.<\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\">In the absence of any clarifying information from TikTok, it seems my video fell victim to these broader dynamics. The Jewish People Policy Institute, the Global ThinkTank of the Jewish People, posted the video. And yes, I confess: My analysis, like my book, is pro-Israel and pro-Zionist, as well as pro-liberal and pro-American. Alas, those positions are unpopular among too many influencers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\">Clearly, these platforms enjoy outsized power in our democracy. Ironically, the surge in canceled posts reflects an attempt to limit the mainstreaming of hate online.<\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\">It\u2019s confusing. Hate breeds hate. In an age when too many people lack moral fiber and common sense, we farm out decency to monitors, because expressions of bile grow exponentially. Each hater posting validates many others. Yet, beware: Censors breed censoriousness. They wield their power arbitrarily, and, in this case and so frequently, heavy-handedly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\">TikTok\u2019s \u201cCommunity Principles\u201d of April, 2024 claim that \u201cTo strike the right balance with free expression, we restrict content only when necessary and in a way that seeks to minimize the impact on speech.\u201d Obviously, once again, when it comes to Jewish content, let alone Zionist content, the impulse to restrict is far greater \u2013 as is the chilling \u201cimpact on speech,\u201d ultimately depriving us of the robust debate we need.<\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jewishjournal.com\/commentary\/opinion\/375010\/tiktok-banned-my-new-book-even-before-it-was-published\/\">Published by Jewish Journal<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>America\u2019s Silenced Majority remains pro-Jewish and overwhelmingly pro-Israel. But dynamics on social media, and a polarized political culture that broadcasts extremists too loudly, has given the haters an outsized profile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topics-antisemitism-and-de-legitimization","library-op-ed","library-publications"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18878"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18886,"href":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18878\/revisions\/18886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}