by Sharon Zhang | Jan 30, 2026 | Article, big tech, Palestine, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint
This story was originally published on Truthout on Jan. 29, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
Well-known Gaza journalist Bisan Owda has been banned from TikTok, she says, just days after the finalization of the company’s sale to U.S. investors — including a firm headed by the notoriously pro-Israel Larry Ellison.
Owda announced the censorship of her account in a video on Instagram on Wednesday, saying that TikTok had banned her permanently. She had 1.4 million followers on the platform, she said, as a result of years of audience-building under Israeli occupation and genocide.
“I had 1.4 million followers there. I have been building that platform for four years now,” she said.
The account did appear to be banned on Wednesday and Thursday. However, late Thursday afternoon Eastern Time, Owda’s account appeared to be restored, but restricted. Some content seemed to not be available, and a banner appeared at the top of her feed that read: “Posts that some may find uncomfortable are unavailable.”
The Palestinian journalist has spent years documenting life in Gaza under Israeli occupation and, recently, amid Israel’s genocide. Her series with Al Jazeera’s AJ+ has won numerous awards, including a Peabody Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and even an Emmy. At the same time, pro-Israel voices have sought to silence Owda, including in a campaign in 2024 to pressure her Emmy nomination to be withdrawn.
In her Instagram video, Owda said that the ban was “expected” due to pressure from high-powered figures to censor Palestinian voices from TikTok.
She overlaid a video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks at the UN General Assembly in September, in which he named TikTok as a “number one” priority of Israel.
She also shared a
by Derek Seidman | Jan 20, 2026 | AI, Banks, big tech, Billionaires, Cryptocurrency, data centers, Deregulation, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Fossil Fuels, News Analysis, Palantir, Private Equity, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Trump Administration, Venezuela, Wall Street
The first year of Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president has been a most profitable one for the Trump family and its inner circle. By now, much has been reported about the web of conflicts — the unapologetic ethical morass — that defines the second Trump administration and the Trump family’s cryptocurrency ventures, foreign business deals, military contracts, and more.
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by Derek Seidman | Jan 4, 2026 | AI, big tech, Chevron, Climate Crisis, data centers, electricity, Energy, Environmental Racism, Fossil Fuels, Fracking, Halliburton, Liquified Natural Gas, LNG, Natural Gas, News, Renewable Energy, Trump Administration, utilities
“The demand for power and for AI is like nothing I’ve ever seen.” These words were uttered during an October earnings call, not by a wide-eyed tech executive, but by Jeff Miller, the CEO of Halliburton, one of the world’s biggest oilfield services corporations. Like droves of other companies tied to the fracked gas industry, Halliburton is pivoting toward servicing the data center boom…
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by Mike Ludwig | Dec 30, 2025 | AI, Bernie Sanders, big tech, data centers, Environment, Fossil Fuels, News
Billionaire tech moguls talk as if the artificial intelligence revolution is inevitable, and it’s up to the rest of us to adapt. Earlier this year in a blog post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman boasted that society is now “past the event horizon; the takeoff has started” toward building computer “superintelligence.” However, the industry is not just facing blowback from skeptics of the technology itself.
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by C.J. Polychroniou | Dec 16, 2025 | AI, big tech, Climate Crisis, data centers, Economy, Fossil Fuels, Interview, Trump Administration, Water
Over the last few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become extremely popular in Silicon Valley and is widely regarded as the most transformative technology in the 21st century. In fact, it is already reshaping sectors like education, transportation, finance, health care, media, and telecommunications. Indeed, it is estimated that about 60 percent of jobs in advanced economies may be impacted…
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by Brett Wilkins | Dec 13, 2025 | AI, big tech, Donald Trump, Gavin Newsom, Lobbyists, News
Polls show that a majority of US voters — and especially Democrats — want more robust guardrails on artificial intelligence, but Democratic governors’ silence on President Donald Trump’s directive banning states from regulating AI has some observers asking if lobbying by the powerful industry is to blame. Sludge‘s David Moore and Donald Shaw reported Friday that tech titans including OpenAI…
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