As outrage at the Israeli war on Gaza and US backing for it continues to grow, US politicians have responded calmly and reasonably with a measure that threads a fine line between advocating for the US government’s position on the war and respecting the intelligence and basic rights of ordinary Americans.

Just kidding. They’ve put forward an idea that stands to anger large swaths of the public and massively encroach on ordinary Americans’ right to free speech, all while having little to no effect on US voters’ growing repugnance toward Israel’s war: banning TikTok.

This censorious idea has been pushed by conservatives for years and was recently given renewed momentum with a bill set to be voted on in the House this week, and President Joe Biden pledging to sign it into law. In the eyes of the forces backing the measure, banning TikTok in the United States would be an easy way to fix what the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Jonathan Greenblatt referred to in a leaked phone call the “major, major, major generational problem” that the pro-war, pro-Israel side faces, where the divide over US support for Israel “is not left and right, it is young and old” — a divide that can be seen perhaps most clearly on the video-sharing service.