Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald slammed TikTok for shutting down content for the U.S. government.
“For years, US officials and their media allies denounced China, Russia and Iran as despotic for conditioning the ability of Big Tech platforms to maintain access to their countries on their willingness to censor,” Greenwald wrote in a Wednesday tweet. “Now, the US Security State has done exactly that with TikTok.”
Greenwald paired his tweet thread with an article he wrote about the incident. His article appeared to theorize that TikTok had censored his video for noting that major media platforms had radically changed their coverage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from negative to positive after Russia invaded.
Greenwald illustrated to audiences that while one might expect the China-owned TikTok platform to censor on behalf of Chinese government’s interests, the platform also appears to be silencing content on behalf of the U.S. government.
Author and journalist Glenn Greenwald speaks to the audience at Brazilian Press Association in Rio de Janeiro July 30, 2019.
(REUTERS/Lucas Landau)
TUCKER CARLSON: ZELENSKYY’S VISIT REPRESENTED ‘BIPARTISAN MASOCHISM’
“When we learned it was TikTok – rather than FB or Google – that censored our critical report on Zelensky, we were surprised since China has no interest in shielding Zelensky’s image,” Greenwald wrote. “Once we learned the US Security State has commandeered this censorship power, it made sense.”
He also defended his video for calling out Western media platforms.
“Ironically, our report wasn’t even critical of Zelensky per se. Instead, it showed how the Western media completely reversed its own reporting on Ukraine and Zelensky the minute Russia invaded,” he wrote.
He followed by encouraging readers to “Watch the exact segment that TikTok (ie, the USG) banned.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the U.S. Congress as Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) applaud at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 21, 2022.
(MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
He had retweeted from the account representing his show, “System Update,” about the media’s about-face regarding Ukraine’s leader.
“One of the most remarkable features of the Ukraine war is how the media rewrote years of history, almost overnight, to support U.S. intervention in Ukraine,” the post read. “Before Russia invaded, Zelensky was not exactly the poster child for virtuous democratic leadership.”
TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance have faced years of criticism for ties with the Chinese government.
(Mario Tama/Getty Images)
One example Greenwald cited in the video was a piece from The Guardian headlined, “Revealed: ‘anti-oligarch’ Ukrainian president’s offshore connections.” The piece, written by Luke Harding, Elena Loginova and Aubrey Belford as recently as October 2021, suggested, “Volodymyr Zelenskiy has railed against politicians hiding wealth offshore but failed to disclose links to BVI firm.”
