Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Israeli media: 4 Israeli soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Government Media Office: Starved citizens are tempted to head to American-Israeli centers and then are deliberately shot
Gaza Government Media Office: The toll at US-Israeli aid distribution centers is as follows: 110 martyred, 583 wounded, and 9 missing
Gaza Government Media Office: 8 starved civilians were killed and 61 others were injured by the gunfire of Israeli occupation forces and an American security company in Rafah
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Three martyrs, injured in Israeli drone strike on phone charging station west of Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Four martyrs, dozens of injured as IOF open fire on civilians near GHF facility west of Rafah, southern Gaza.
Lebanese Army: This may push Army to freeze cooperation with committee regarding investigating facilities.
Lebanese Army: Enemy's continued violations of agreement and its refusal to respond with implementation committee weakens committee, Army's role.
Lebanese Army: A number of patrols also headed to locations under threat to investigate them, despite enemy's refusal of proposal.
Lebanese Army: As soon as enemy announced its threats, Army began coordination with ceasefire committee to stop attack.

7 months In… Is the TikTok Intifada still raging?

  • Bahia Halawi Bahia Halawi
  • Source: Al Mayadeen
  • 11 Dec 2021 00:24
  • 2 Shares
10 Min Read

TikTok is more of a discomfort to Washington than any other Chinese company and proves that the tech sector is one that is no longer dominated by the US.

  • x
  • Since images do not lie, and the spontaneity of the unfolding scene rings truer than any expression thereof, TikTok soon became a platform to support and show solidarity with Palestine from all around the world.
    Since images do not lie, and the spontaneity of the unfolding scene rings truer than any expression thereof, TikTok soon became a platform to support and show solidarity with Palestine from all around the world.

The case of Occupied Al-Quds’ Sheikh Jarrah generated compelling visual content, especially since its developments were interacted with on a daily basis both inside Palestine and out. The neighborhood, which lies in occupied East al-Quds, was subject to an Israeli security operation over the past months, which aimed to eject its residents.

Sheikh Jarrah is the historic neighborhood that has witnessed many Israeli aggressions and continuous take over attempts through “legal” excuses that aimed to create a new Nakba, by displacing its Palestinian residents and handing their homes over to settlers.

The harassment that Palestinians were subjected to by the Israeli occupation spilled over from real life to the virtual realm as well, with Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) launching systematic campaigns against Palestinian content on a number of different applications, using its relations with their operating companies. This is why an application was needed whose margins can be used to confront the Israeli narrative.

May 2021’s TikTok Intifada

After censorship was imposed on social media platforms owned by the US oligarchy, Palestine’s youth resorted to TikTok to document “Israel’s” racism and constant aggression and share it online. These youth recorded occupation soldiers attacking children and civilians and bragging about it in front of the cameras. They broadcast live footage of Israeli settlers attempting to storm the neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan to steal Palestinian lands, under the protection of the IOF.

Since images do not lie, and the spontaneity of the unfolding scene rings truer than any expression thereof, TikTok soon became a platform to support and show solidarity with Palestine from all around the world. Palestinian youth and teenagers succeeded in using new media to deliver the strongest of messages, and once again showed that steadfastness and determination in a cause pave the way for new levels, even at the technical level. What’s unusual here is that the youth of this generation, for the past decade, have dealt with the vilest campaigns that demonized them and called them traitors in order to dissociate them from an environment of resistance.

The campaign became increasingly popular, especially during the battle of Seif al-Quds and the aggression and systematic destruction suffered by Gaza. This experiment can be considered a practical success of the abilities of smart applications to create change through content.

In this field, the options became more diverse, either through blending resistance operations and rocket launches with spirited anthems or showcasing Israeli massacres against Palestinians in a way befitting the application’s technical options, in order to deliver the proper idea.

Thus, the TikTok Intifada came into being in order to show the suffering of the Palestinian people, attracting attention, while also becoming a tool to confront the Israeli narrative and the shackles binding the people of Palestine.

TikTok’s features

Tiktok is a video-sharing app that allows users to create their own 15-second video content on any subject and share it. The app today is more like a club, where Generation Z can dance in their own living rooms, dance, joke around, and share these moments with other teenagers who always have their mobile devices on hand.

This largely unique platform was successful because it didn’t copy other platforms, but instead offered something original that was to the liking of the digital generation. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company acquired China’s lip-syncing app Musical.ly (which had a strong user base in the US) for $1 billion. It later merged both the application and its user base with TikTok, which is why we can find video content of children dancing to music and teenagers playing with their pets.

Related News

What the deep strike on Russia reveals about NATO strategy and Trump’s diplomatic deadlock

Witkoff’s proposal and the position of the Palestinian Resistance

Why is the US so agitated?

While many journalists and social media pundits see the content on TikTok as silly and shallow, The Washington Post announced back in September that they will branch out into TikTok. Many saw this as a smart move, and it was not surprising that a new giant would embrace this platform, invest in digital media, guide it in the right direction, keep up with the demand, and create channels [to communicate] with future generations. Between the lines, however, there are many strategic goals that can be uncovered:

·        2021 was not only the year of the TikTok intifada but was also the year Gen Z discovered its power on the internet. Though simple and short, TikTok videos can tell stories. More importantly, interactions with its content can lead to an increase of international attention and pressure on the government and the international community. TikTok also offered an “escape plan” from the narrative imposed by the West on digital platforms. During the last Intifada, the West imposed censorship on Palestinian documentation of Israeli aggression and hegemony, so as not to benefit others in Bolivia, Venezuela, Lebanon, Syria, and India.

·        TikTok is an unprecedented penetration of the depths of US society and is there to stay even among Americans. Therefore, the easiest thing to do is to embrace it. US teenagers prefer TikTok to Instagram (which is the most popular among teenagers, according to their claims).

·        More Americans with ages ranging from 12-17 are using TikTok  than Instagram on a weekly basis, according to a poll published by Forrester. In reality, the application is more of a nuisance to Washington than any other Chinese company, even Huawei. Huawei-manufactured equipment can be easily manufactured by other companies in friendly states, like Sweden’s Ericsson, and the equipment can be easily removed and replaced, like in the case of the UK.

·        The platform’s popularity runs counter to the US narrative, which described the Chinese President’s agenda as being repressive for Chinese companies operating on an international level, especially since TikTok, for example, is widely used almost everywhere, despite it first gaining popularity in Asian markets, like Japan and the Philippines. It gained traction only later in the US and Europe. Moreover, TikTok reflects the substantial rise of China and is a reminder that the tech scene is no longer limited to US Western hegemony on the sector.

·        As the battle between the US and China picks up pace, the power of retaining individuals’ social data also grows more sensitive. A quick reading on TikTok in US headlines allows one to notice widespread accusations of China stealing secrets, monitoring their populace, and aiding Beijing’s “obscene” goals.

Articles on data security are also being published on a large scale, discussing consequences and assumptions that Chinese authorities are collecting data on US citizens for unknown reasons, with this possibly being a target or even a way to prepare for a Chinese advertising tool.

However, this method isn’t only restricted to TikTok. According to Washington, the app’s national security threats are very real. In the last few weeks, the position against the company has grown even stricter. Congress and the White House are leaning toward banning Chinese companies from reaching the US stock market. Even the once-loved Jack Ma was banned in 2018 when CFIUS wouldn’t allow his financial tech firm Ant Financial to purchase the Dallas-based  payment service MoneyGram.

On the social level, particularly in terms of creating influence and stars, and because US platforms can control what content is popular, and greatly control the world of content creation, they can allow or block whomever they want from publishing, whenever they wish to do so. The effects can be seen in social media users and the youth, in favor of the companies’ owners, though in a soft, long-term manner. The younger generations, however, would become harmonized with the content being allowed and exported in accordance with the Western agenda and with these companies’ policies, which brand content deemed compromising to the West with labels like terrorism, barbarism, etc…

How can TikTok offer an alternative?

Firstly, we need to realize that the information being spread about TikTok is Western propaganda, because they arise from political, and not technical goals since Chinese products are being confronted by the United States since they pose a real threat to the US hegemony on technology.

As for where it can be put to use, the margins TikTok allows make this possible, especially since these margins are not available in other applications, and for political considerations as well. So, what is needed is to transform TikTok into a beneficial platform on the cultural, political, and social levels, namely in confronting the Western imperialist attack on our countries. This begs the question: What is it that should be accomplished?

Here, we can consider a number of goals:

·        Enforce our digital narrative and strengthen it with numbers, evidence, and images: all righteous causes, like the Palestinian cause, are in need of meaningful digital content that must be published, and its details followed up on at the appropriate time.

·        Investing in youth: As they are more acquainted with the platform and more spontaneous when using them, they have a higher degree of influence. If this influence was to be mixed with education, training, and employing the scientific method in our approach to causes, then it would be especially more beneficial to the youth demographic.

·        Going to back to the baseline: One of the lessons we can extract from the battle of Seif al-Quds and its accompanying virtual scene is that unity is the key. Disagreements naturally exist, and are legitimate – to each his own – but focusing on the common ground, respecting differences, and discussing how to achieve harmony remain the key to supporting al-Quds in an effective manner, that would also be projected in social media, especially on TikTok.

In conclusion

Social media platforms are no longer disconnected from political intervention, or from being employed in political aims and propaganda. Therefore, what’s needed is to use all available resources to spread political ideas that support righteous causes in our Arab world, especially the cause of Palestine.

Being fearful of any platform and not taking advantage of it will only leave a vacuum that will undoubtedly be filled by others. In the case of TikTok, this app has proven that it can make a difference and create change in the prevailing mainstream mentality that runs counter to Palestinian content. Since war is largely a war of narratives, it is necessary and imperative that the narrative that opposes Western occupation and hegemony also be present on TikTok, and that we not give in to the demonization of this platform by Western propaganda. This very propaganda will have us leave the space empty, to be filled by the wrong content.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • United States
  • China
  • TikTok
  • Palestine
  • Seif Al-Quds
  • technology
  • App
  • Instagram
  • Intifada
  • Palestinian cause
  • Israeli occupation
  • Sheikh Jarrah
  • social media
Bahia Halawi

Bahia Halawi

Al Mayadeen Media Network Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Al Mayadeen Online Director.

Most Read

All
It may well be due to the longstanding relationship between MI6 and HTS, via Inter Mediate, that Britain was the first Western country to recognise their assumption of government in Syria. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

How MI6 helped HTS seize Syria

  • Opinion
  • 31 May 2025
The two countries need to sit down and resolve the crisis with maturity, to consider carefully that they could be being manipulated to be easily dominated. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

Algeria and Mali, divided and almost conquered

  • Opinion
  • 25 May 2025
Trump and Biden both pretended to be fighting Netanyahu

Trump and Biden both pretended to be fighting Netanyahu

  • Analysis
  • 28 May 2025
Eurovision: NATO Psychological Warfare Tool

Eurovision: NATO Psychological Warfare Tool

  • Analysis
  • 24 May 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

More from this writer

All
Passive scrolling does not help Gaza, neither in terms of engagement nor advocacy

From engagement to advocacy, doom scrolling won't stop the Gaza genocide

Al-Aqsa Flood: A Gift for Generations to Come

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood: A favor for generations to come

Iran

Disinformation campaign targeting Iran over Mahsa Amini's death

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS