Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) on Tuesday claimed the social media platform TikTok is creating “warped” perceptions of Israel’s war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
When asked on CNN’s “The Lead” about the reason behind the divisions in the Democratic Party over the Israel-Hamas war, Fetterman responded, “I really don’t know. I know that a lot of people are getting their perspective from TikTok.”
“And I think, if you’re kind of getting your perspective on the world on TikTok, it’s going to tend to be kind of warped or not reflective of the history and actually the way things absolutely are,” he continued.
Fetterman has remained steadfast in his support of Israel following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on the country that left about 1,200 people dead. The Pennsylvania Democrat has argued Hamas bears responsibility for the ongoing violence in Gaza as Israel carries out a campaign in the Hamas-run territory to destroy the group and its military capabilities.
The violence in Gaza has killed more than 19,000 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
“And what is very clear is, is that Hamas started this, and they actually broke the cease-fire, and they attacked and murdered babies, children, women, attacked a music concert and everything. It’s outrageous,” Fetterman said.
“And from now on, it’s been very clear that Israel would very much want there to be peace. But they have made it very clear that, after Oct. 7, that that’s just not possible so long as Hamas is allowed to exist,” he added.
The Hill reached out to TikTok for comment.
Fetterman is not the first lawmaker to bring up concerns over TikTok and its impact on people’s perception of the conflict.
NBC News reported last month other congressional members, conservative activists and tech investors have renewed calls to ban TikTok, with some arguing the platform has a pro-Palestinian bias. TikTok called the allegations of bias baseless, NBC News reported.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last month, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) urged the Biden administration to establish a ban on TikTok, arguing the Chinese-owned company has the “power to radically distort the world-picture that America’s young people encounter.”
TikTok responded to concerns over the platform last month, pointing out that hashtags are created and added to videos by users — not the platform — and warned against comparing the number of videos and views associated with a hashtag.
The platform has also pushed back against the concerns over its algorithms, claiming its algorithm does not “take sides” and “has rigorous measures in place to prevent manipulation.”
TikTok said it also created a command center and assembled specific resources and personnel to “robustly respond” to the Israel-Hamas war. It said the platform removed more than 925,000 videos from Oct. 7 to Oct. 31 for violating TikTok’s policies around violence, hate, misinformation and terrorism. Those videos included content promoting Hamas, the platform said.