They could easily have pretended TikTok was a neutral actor until they needed to sway US opinion over Taiwan (or something bigger). Instead they made the control obvious on a dozen issues and are going to get cut off way earlier.
Vietnam for example is fairly anti-China due to memories of the Sino-Vietnamese War, the PRC's support of the Khmer Rouge (edit: spelling), and the South China Sea dispute, but in my experience views among the younger generation have started to trend towards a Chinese view of the world because of TikTok.
South Korea and Japan still have massive soft power in the region, yet products like TikTok are definetly undermining it.
(not to say that criticism of Israel's handling of the war isn't valid, of course)
Anti-Israel skew is not being driven by government interests. Well, except for multiple hamfisted footguns by Israel (where their influence has backfired causing harm to Israel).