Jordan Bans TikTok in Wake of Violent Protests Supporting National Truckers’ Strike

The social media platform TikTok has been banned in Jordan, an apparent reaction to protests that have been sweeping the kingdom in support of the country’s truck drivers, who went on an open-ended strike at the beginning of the month calling for lowered fuel prices. The protests began to turn violent at the end of last week when a police officer was shot in the head in Maan in southern Jordan and four other policemen were injured. The government said it would crack down on security in the wake of the deadly protest.  Jordan’s Public Security Directorate announced over the weekend that TikTok was being used “for glorifying hate speech and for inciting chaos, attacking law enforcement agencies and property, and blocking roads,” and said that it would “temporarily suspend” the online social media platform. “TikTok has failed to get a grip of content shared by its users, whether it’s glorifying and publishing acts of violence, or inciting chaos. We believe there are videos from outside Jordan being faked to stir up anger inside the country,” according to a statement from the directorate. Jordanians protesting the trucker’s plight have now moved on to Twitter to express their anger, according to The New Arab. At least 44 people have been arrested in connection with the protests, according to the directorate.