Secretary of State Antony Blinken said social media dominated Story about Israel’s war in Gaza on Friday, sitting for one Interview with Senator Mitt Romney at the McCain Institute’s 2024 Sedona Forum. Blinken’s statement on social media, which did not mention TikTok by name, was in response to Romney’s questions: “Why was the PR so terrible?” and “Why has Hamas disappeared from the public eye?”
“The way this played out on social media dominated the narrative,” Blinken said in a meandering response to Romney’s question. “There is a social media ecosystem – an environment – where context, history and facts are lost and the emotion – the impact – of images dominates.” We can’t ignore that, but I think it has one too very, very, very challenging effect on the narrative.”
Blinken lamented that the information environment is the biggest change in the 30 years he has been in Washington. The Secretary of State described how people used to read one of three newspapers or watch one of the few nationally broadcast evening news channels. Now, as Blinken describes, “we are on an intravenous feed of information with new impulses, inputs every millisecond.”
Romney responded immediately by touting overwhelming congressional support for Congress Possible closure of TikTok. The US senator noted that TikTok posts mention Palestinians significantly more often than other social media apps.
“Some wonder why there has been such overwhelming support for us to potentially shut down TikTok or other companies like it. If you look at the posts on TikTok and the number of mentions of Palestinians compared to other social media sites, this is overwhelmingly the case in TikTok broadcasts,” Romney said. “I know this is of real interest and the president will have a chance to take action on this.”
Secretary Blinken and Senator Romeny’s offices did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.
The brief exchange shows how senior officials in Congress and the White House view the critical role of social media in U.S. foreign policy. Blinken did not mention TikTok by name, even though it is the only app in America considered a threat to national security. Romney was more open. He described a rarely discussed reason for banning TikTok that had nothing to do with privacy and everything to do with narrative control.
The tech world is right at the center of Israel’s war in Gaza. Israel reportedly uses an AI system called Lavender Systematically attacking people in Gaza. Google around 50 employees were laid off who protested the company’s ties to Israel. Meanwhile, Israel’s war narrative appears to be under threat from social media platforms.
Now that the TikTok ban has come into full effect, the clock is ticking for Bytedance file a lawsuit, sell the app, or shut down TikTok US. Many expect Bytedance to file a lawsuit in the coming weeks to challenge the constitutionality of the first U.S. law that could ban a social media app.