As popular social media platform TikTok sues the U.S. government alleging that the forced ban or sale violates First Amendment over legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden, Senator Mitt Romney claims there were underlying motivations behind the push to ban TikTok from operating in the U.S.

Senator Romney’s statement during an interview with Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the McCain Institute Sedona Forum on May 3 unveiled a new dimension to the debate surrounding TikTok. While politicians have focused on cybersecurity concerns related to TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, Romney pointed to another factor: the app’s alleged proliferation of pro-Palestinian content, Rolling Stone reported

“The way this has played out on social media has dominated the narrative,” Blinken said of the Hamas-Israel war. “You have a social media environment in which context, history, facts, get lost — and the emotion, the impact of images dominates.”

Romney responded that while “some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially TikTok,” if “you look at the posting on TikTok and the number of Palestinians relative to other social media sites, it’s overwhelmingly so on TikTok.” 

“So I know that’s of real interest, and the president will have a chance to take action in that regard,” Romney added. 

Mitt Romney says support for a nationwide ban on TikTok is connected to the "overwhelming" volume of "mentions of Palestinians" on the popular platform.https://t.co/BSZlc4Ksx0

— Axios (@axios) May 7, 2024

Romney claims TikTok hosts a disproportionate amount of pro-Palestinian posts compared to other social media platforms. Critics argue that TikTok’s alleged bias towards pro-Palestinian content reflects a broader trend of social media platforms amplifying certain voices while marginalizing others. Lawmakers like Senator Romney and Representative Mike Lawler have raised concerns about the potential for TikTok to be exploited by foreign entities to manipulate public opinion and promote discord.

In November 2023, former Rep. Mike Gallagher wrote an op-ed accusing TikTok of “brainwashing our youth against the country and our allies” by promoting “pro-Hamas” content.

TikTok has pointed out that it is not artificially boosting pro-Palestinan content, or suppressing pro-Israel content, Newsweek reported. According to TikTok, “in the six months since October 7, 2023, we have removed more than 3.1 million videos and suspended more than 140,000 livestreams in Israel and Palestine for violating our Community Guidelines, including content promoting Hamas, hate speech, violent extremism, and misinformation.” 

“These allegations deliberately misrepresent our actions in removing violative content within minutes of notification,” Jamie Favazza, a spokeswoman for TikTok, said in a statement, The New York Times reported. “We vigorously oppose antisemitism in all forms and apply our policies equally to all content and ads on TikTok.”

TikTok logo/Senator Mitt Romney, official photo, https://www.romney.senate.gov/official-photo/