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johnnyanmac | on: TikTok goes dark in the US
I'll go against my better judgment and ask: What are China's relations to Palestine and Israel? I genuinely do not have the slightest clue about that dynamic.
Applejinx | parent | next
For that matter, what are China's interests regarding Russia/US? It seems like China would lose a lot of money in the event of America taking a major dive, but they could be preparing to make the case that they are a more stable regime with a more stable currency. I feel like that would be aligned with China's interests.
petre | root | parent
> For that matter, what are China's interests regarding Russia/US?

"If these two get into a fight, we can move on with our Taiwan agenda."

That's why Trump is pushing the EU to properly finance their defense, so the US can concentrate on Asia Pacific. He signalled this during his Notre Dame meeting with Macron, France being the only European NATO ally with a reliable army and interests in the region. To Trump, China is the new US rival, Russia is merely a bigger Iran with nukes and more advanced tech. I don't see him giving Tiktok a break.

matwood | parent | next
Possibly none. But the logic goes like this - China sees that amplifying positive Palestinian stories serve to destabilize US discourse so they put their thumb on the scale to push those over positive Israeli stories.

And we know this type of thing works because we see it everyday with US internal propaganda. The last thing the US needs is an adversary with a direct line to the US populace controlling what they see. Also, I'm not even talking about misinformation, just pushing what stories are seen and not seen. Once you add in misinformation and bots it's pretty wild how easy it appears to control the population.

onemoresoop | root | parent
Ok but doesn’t that cancel out with other platforms that push the thumb in the other direction of the scale? What just happend reeks of supression of information to me.
matwood | root | parent | next
TikTok already suppresses information in ways that furthers Chinese interests. Those interests can be as direct as promoting China or as nuanced as simply making people in the US dislike each other.
brazzy | root | parent
> Ok but doesn’t that cancel out with other platforms that push the thumb in the other direction of the scale?

The point is not to push Americans towards Israel or Palestinians, the point is to push Americans apart from each other, so that each half of the political divide sees the other as supporting baby-murderers, as people you cannot be friends with, compromise with and shouldn't even try to talk to.

I am not exaggerating, each of these things I have seen being explicitly pushed.

refurb | parent
Any power, worth its salt (and China is most certainly one of those), will be acutely aware of conflict which involve opposing powers.

If something can be done through the Israeli/Palestinian conflict which damages the US, you can be sure China is working on it.