If you've seen Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 content on TikTok in the days since its historic sweep at The Game Awards, you might have noticed something strange near the bottom of the screen. When you watch any video on TikTok, you'll usually see a bar at the bottom of the screen with related keywords. Sometimes, these terms actually reflect things that other people have searched for or might be interested in. Other times, the TikTok algorithm will cook up bizarre associations. And in this case, popular videos of Clair Obscur will often include the words "expedition 33 israel" at the bottom. If you click through, sure enough, there are an unusual number of videos associated with that topic.

TikTok is not particularly open about the way its algorithm works. The platform warns users that search results and suggestions may not be accurate when it is dealing with 'rapidly changing events.' Still, it’s clear that some combination of the algorithm and users is linking the game to Israel, and it appears to be related to how decisively Expedition 33 dominated The Game Awards. Despite being heavily favored and the most-nominated game ever, some gamers are upset by the outcome and claim — sincerely or for the memes — that there’s a conspiracy afoot. Rather than deal with their disappointment normally, these gamers are actively attempting to discredit the game by associating it with Israel, which has become an online shorthand deployed to make any topic socially radioactive by proxy.

"Netanyahu summoning 3000 billion IDF soldiers to vote expedition 33 for every category for the game awards," reads one TikTok with over 187,000 views.

"Yeah bro I think........

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