“Weapons change over time; the most important one is social media,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. podcasters and TikTok creators at Israel’s New York consulate on Friday, adding that TikTok is “the most important purchase going on right now.”

The remarks, recorded and circulated online, followed a White House action days earlier that cleared a roughly $14 billion plan to shift TikTok’s U.S. operations to a Zionist American investor group — a transfer critics fear could concentrate editorial power in pro-Israel hands.

The consortium is led by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a close Netanyahu ally with an estimated net worth of about $393 billion. A major donor to the Israeli military, Ellison’s personal ties to Netanyahu have fueled concerns that TikTok’s U.S. operations could be steered by explicitly pro-Israel interests.

On X, many Americans responded with outrage, calling the meeting a thinly veiled propaganda push and warning of “weaponized” disinformation if platforms fall under allied private control, while others urged legal and transparency probes.

Timing amplified the backlash: Gaza’s health authorities report roughly 66,000 dead since October 2023, and many delegations walked out during Netanyahu’s U.N. address.

“Look at this. Netanyahu is literally speaking in first person like TikTok was purchased FOR ISRAEL,” Shaun King posted.

Max Blumenthal wrote that Netanyahu’s remarks showed a naked intent to “buy TikTok” to shape messaging.

Other X users, such as Tony Michael, blasted the meeting as evidence that platform control would be used to “propagandize” Americans and to obscure atrocities.

As algorithms increasingly curate what billions see, critics warn that the mix of state strategy and private ownership risks turning civic debate into an engineered narrative — and burying the living toll behind curated feeds.