Upset Over Oracle's Deal With TikTok? Here Is How to Block the Software

Social media users are upset over TikTok signing with Oracle to have its algorithm controlled by the software company. The company signed a deal allowing for U.S. operations to be controlled by the software giant, according to NPR, and now, people want to know how to block Oracle on TikTok.

Oracle is owned by billionaire Larry Ellison, who is the company's founder and one of the richest people in the world. People are worried about his ties to President Trump and his politics infecting TikTok.

Anupam Chander is a technology professor at Georgetown University, and he says concerns about censorship have folks worried.

"With an American majority running the content moderation, concerns about foreign propaganda seem to have been alleviated," he said. "But it is possible that the American TikTok might end up censoring or hiding speech that is permissible on the global TikTok platform. I would hope that the U.S. content moderation team would allow speech that the American owners might dislike."

In order to block Oracle on TikTok, you will need to go to Oracle's TikTok profile and tap the three dots or the arrow in the top right-hand corner. Then you will need to select the "Block" button at the bottom of the screen and confirm your choice.

TikTok creator Murray Curtis shared a tutorial on how to block Oracle on his page.

According to The Intercept, many people are worried because Oracle's CEO, Larry Ellison, is a staunch supporter of Israel, and they think he will try to silence TikTok users who are actively speaking out about the genocide the government is committing in Palestine.

The outlet called the CEO an "anti-Palestinian billionaire" who knows that millions of Americans support the end of diplomatic and military support for Israel.

The outlet reports that TikTok began to silence people on social media who criticized Israel over the summer, and in July, the company hired an ex-Israeli soldier, Erica Mindel, who has an anti-Palestinian record in politics, to spy on TikTokers' communication.

A recent Pew Research poll found that Israel’s unfavorable rating among people aged 18 to 49 had gone up from 35 to 50 percent for Republicans, and the country's unpopularity rose to 71 percent from 62 percent for Democrats in the same age group, partly due to TikTok videos. With the Oracle CEO being such a strong supporter of Israel, concerns that he will corrupt TikTok with propaganda are rampant.

Several TikTokers claimed that they saw old content on their "For You" pages after the Oracle takeover, but that after blocking the Oracle page on the platform, their accounts went back to normal.

The underlying algorithm for TikTok is allegedly still owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. Nearly half of the American version of TikTok will be owned by Oracle, the private equity firm Silver Lake, and the investment firm MGX. The three companies will control 45 percent of the new TikTok entity in the United States.