TikTok removes Palestinian account without notice

By Muhammed Ebu Dun

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - TikTok removed the account of a Palestinian news outlet Friday that shared posts about Israeli human rights violations and reactions to Arab-Israeli normalization.

The Chinese video-sharing app deleted the Quds News Network account without any notice after it shared 1,200 posts, according to Hamzah al-Shobaki, who is responsible for managing the account.

He told Anadolu Agency the account shared posts on Palestine, Israeli occupation and the normalization process and had 50,000 followers, 7 million views and 350,000 likes.

Al-Shobaki urged TikTok to reverse its decision because if it did not, the Chinese social media platform would be on the list of social media accounts that support Israel.

Iyad al-Rifai, Director of Sada Social, a non-governmental Palestinian human rights center, said Palestinians view TikTok as a space to escape restrictions by American apps.

"Deleting the account of the Quds News Network is a new stage for Palestinian content on the platform," he said.