ALBAWABA - Amid the ban shenanigans in the US, TikTok is once again the talk of social media after reports from users indicated that the popular video-sharing platform is removing 'Free Palestine' comments under videos, sparking outrage and censorship accusations from its users.
This caused a swarm of posts on several other social media platforms, including Musk's X (formerly known as Twitter), criticizing TikTok for censorship and bias. By the time of reporting, the video-sharing platform had not responded to the criticism.
TikTok under fire after removing 'Free Palestine' comments
Moreover, it seems like TikTok is viewing 'Free Palestine,' which is a phrase used by human rights and pro-Palestine activists globally amid the ongoing Israeli aggression on the country, as "hate speech."
When users write the popular phrase, they are shown a pop-up stating that it violates TikTok's community guidelines, which resulted in its deletion. Several X users took to the platform and expressed their opinions about the matter. Here's what they had to say.
"Well, I guess we know who now controls TikTok."
"Slowly, people can piece together what this was really all about."
Hamas and Israel, with the help of US, Qatar, and Egyptian mediators, were able to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal on Jan. 15 that contains the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners in addition to the halt of fighting and allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza, ending 15 months of war.
This all came in after Israel's non-stop attacks on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in the killing of at least 47,000 Palestinians and injuring more than 110,000.
