TikTok terrorism: Pakistani terrorists love it, anti-India propagandists used it to spew venom amid India-Pak war
Indo-Pak tensions – Pakistanis, Chinese used TikTok as propaganda tool: Many Pakistanis and some Chinese users have turned the Chinese-owned TikTok into a propaganda tool and misinformation campaign platform during the Indo-Pak tensions before, during and after the Pahalgam terror attacks and Operation Sindoor military operations by India.
It has emerged that there are two main ways in which the Chinese-owned short video sharing platform was used: for disseminating misinformation about India, and for exhorting people to join terror organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba.
TikTok terrorism:: A terror recruiting tool?
While TikTok is not present in India, it is widely used in Pakistan. Those who can access it would see how blatantly terrorist organisations and/or their sympathisers are using it to spread Jihadist propaganda and to recruit youngsters. A Sky News investigation has found that TikTok videos were being used in areas including Murdike, where youngsters were being trained by Lashkar-e-Taiba inside what appeared to be mosques and madrassas , the Islamic seminaries. Muridke is one of the nine terror launchpads hit by India in Operation Sindoor, on May 9.
TikTok terrorism:What do the terrorist videos show?
The video descriptions clearly mentioned Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terror group behind the Pahalgam attack of April 22 that led to India’s Operation Sindoor. The descriptions also contained words like 313, which is code for Jihad. The videos showed children training in swordsplay, and LeT operatives roaming around with guns on their shoulders.
TikTok terrorism:Terrorists among people is the norm in Pakistan
If one goes by the videos, it is a daily normal life for these terror launchpads attacked by India to see LeT or other terror group fighters and trainees roaming around or training.
There appears to be no censorship on TikTok in Pakistan, even as it is very clear that the videos are aimed at econouraging more people to join and fund terror groups like LeT to carry out more attacks against India.
TikTok terrorism: : The online ‘wolf warriors’ of anti-India venom
A parallel, disturbing trend was seen during the India-Pakistan tensions in the wake of Operation Sindoor. It is not a secret that several Tiktokers and ‘influencers’ have been used by the Chinese government as its secret progapanda warriors.
During the Operation Sindoor, there were some Chinese TikTokers, including some who appeared to speak American English, giving out ‘news’ the conflict. Many of them appeared to amplify Pakistani propaganda and fake news, like Pakistani armed forces downed several Indian planes, and detaining piolots. Pakistan has later confirmed that no Indian pilot has been taken in custody by it.
I am not embedding the TiktOk videos in this story, in order not to give any credence to those posts. If you are reading this story from India, just give a search on X for ‘india pakistan tiktok’ and you will get a sense of some of the vile propaganda.
The videos include videogame footage dressed up as Pakistani jets downing Indian fighter planes, western-looking tiktokers saying Pakistan is a great place to live, and mock re-enactments of terror attacks against India by some ‘funny’ tiktokers.
Why is TikTok banned in India?
In the middle of India-China tensions across the border, New Delhi banned TikTok in India in June 2020. The government cited national security concerns and data privacy violations as the reasons. The main concern was that the app might be allowing Chinese government to access Indian user data for surveillance on Indians or for spying on them.
There was fear that TikTok is stealing Indian user data and transmitting the same to the Chinese government. The main reason behind this concern was that TikTok servers were located in China.
