TikTok is being banned in America because it woke Americans up to the genocide happening in Gaza. Am I wrong?

Pretty sure that's true. Now they control the narrative with censoring content.

It was banned because a bill had bipartisan support and was signed by the President.

Yes. You are wrong.  They were in the process of banning it long before the Gaza conflict. 

I would say that's oversimplifying things and it's not the only reason, but it might be part of it.

America wants to use the fact it's a Chinese app as a reason to ban it - they can use the excuse it's a data security issue and that may even be true, but to think that's all it is would be rather naive to think.

The thing about American media is although they like to claim they have a freedom of speech, a lot of it is censored and filtered based on what the government or businesses paying for the station (if on TV or radio) or site (such as Instagram or Facebook) wants people to see. That can really be said about any country, really.

But, the problem with TikTok is it's worldwide and not owned by the US so America can't control it the way they can with other sites like Facebook or Twitter. Not to mention it's short form content and gets information out so fast to so many people that there is no time to shut it down. For example, I live in Chicago so a lot of TikTok videos I've seen are people filming the ICE raids in schools right now. Eventually many were taken down and accounts were punished for it (likely due to whatever deal Trump made with TikTok's CEO) but not before thousands of people saw the videos (based on likes/bookmarks/comments).

If Americans are allowed to share things that are being hushed up, and are finding out about it that fast, it makes them harder to control via censored news. We also have seen this, like you said, with Palestine, and even news about Luigi because it's not what the government or businesses want us to feel or see.

You can even liken this to the Vietnam war - the first time Americans got to see what it was really like and protests happened and the government had to fight back harder with propaganda. If we're allowed to see what's happening for real, they can't control us.

Well trump wanted to ban it when he was in office in 2019, apparently it was after TikTokers started viral campaign to buy up/registered for a whole heap of seats at one of his rallies so that the seats were empty. He was furious and started talking about banning it after that. Then yeah the genocide in Gaza is what triggered everyone else.

Yes, you're wrong. The whole ball on this thing got rolling five years ago

Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok – The White House

That is what started it. It was issued August 5th 2020. Basically the worries are about national security in a variety of different ways. User data. The potential of the app to act as a backdoor or zero day threat. Worries about its ability to shape narrative or simply exist as addictive brain rot on purpose. Worries about the tracking ability of the app (as tied to phones and its GPS signal). Concerns about corporate espionage potential.

Israel has nothing to do with it. Maybe Israel would like it banned for its own reasons and lobbies Congress for it but this was in the making waaaaay before their newest war in Gaza.

To say nothing of the fact that I don't think this was 'informing' anyone anyway. Sure it's more negative coverage so people might be exposed to it more, but it's not as if Israel's war is a secret or they have any ability to hide it from the American public.

Yes

It’s one of the big reasons for sure

Yes. Although the Trump administration suggested the ban back in 2020, it was the exposure of the Gaza g3nocide (especially through TikTok live) that accelerated the ban.

TikTok is getting banned becuz Zuck wants it banned. Prez Musk also