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A former Oracle chief executive who helped negotiate the company's role in TikTok's $14 billion U.S. divestiture previously advocated for combating pro-Palestinian activism on American college campuses, according to leaked emails that have raised questions about potential influence over the social media platform's content.
Safra Catz, who stepped down as Oracle CEO in September to become executive vice chair, wrote to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in February 2015 expressing alarm about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.
"We have all been horrified by the growth of the BDS movement in college campuses and have concluded that we have to fight this battle before the kids even get to college. We believe that we have to embed the love and respect for Israel in the American culture. That means getting the message to the American people in a way they can consume it," Catz wrote in the email, first reported by Responsible Statecraft following a hack of Barak's account.
The BDS movement seeks to pressure Israel economically over its treatment of Palestinians, drawing inspiration from similar campaigns that helped end apartheid in South Africa.
Oracle is positioned to serve as what the White House calls TikTok's "trusted security provider" under the deal transferring the Chinese-owned app's U.S. operations to an American-majority consortium. The arrangement comes after ByteDance, TikTok's Beijing-based parent company, faced mounting pressure from U.S. officials who cited national security concerns.
Catz's previous role as CEO likely gave her significant involvement in negotiations leading to the transfer agreement. However, an anonymous source told Responsible Statecraft that Catz "will be nowhere near the algorithm of TikTok."
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that "American investors will actually control the algorithm" that determines content distribution to users once the deal concludes. A U.S. official, speaking anonymously, indicated that TikTok's recommendation algorithm would be transferred to the joint venture and "fully inspected and retrained by the security provider on US user data."
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The revelation comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly emphasized the strategic importance of TikTok's ownership change. Speaking to social media influencers last week, Netanyahu called the platform's sale "the most important purchase that is going on right now."
"We have to fight with the weapons that apply to the battlefields on which we are engaged. And the most important ones are on social media," Netanyahu said. "And the most important purchase that is going on right now is, class? TikTok. TikTok, number one. Number one. And I hope it goes through, because it can be consequential."
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Oracle would "independently monitor the safety and data security of all US user data on TikTok's platform" in its security provider role.
The disclosure of Catz's 2015 email adds another layer to ongoing debates about potential political influence over social media content moderation and algorithmic decisions, particularly regarding Middle East-related topics that have generated significant controversy on platforms including TikTok.
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