TikTok US pushes back on claims it is censoring content
10 minutes ago Share Save Liv McMahon Technology reporter Share Save
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TikTok has denied claims that its new US operations are heavily-controlling what users post after thousands reported glitches with the video streaming platform. In a response to the BBC, a spokesperson for TikTok US reiterated an earlier statement pointing to technical issues being the reason for issues since it became a separate American entity last week. "We've made significant progress in recovering our US infrastructure with our US data center partner," they said. "However, the US user experience may still have some technical issues, including when posting new content." They also pushed back on users' claims they were not able to use the name "Epstein" on TikTok.
It refers to Jeffrey Epstein, the dead convicted sex offender and financier. The Trump administration has continued to face fierce scrutiny for its handling of the Epstein case. TikTok said there are no rules against sharing the name "Epstein" in direct messages. While the company said problems identified with the platform are being addressed, California Governor Gavin Newsom has nevertheless announced an investigation into claims TikTok has censored content which is critical of the Trump administration. Last Thursday, a deal was concluded to split off the US operation of the app - three days later thousands of American users began reporting problems including seeing "zero views" on new posts. Many also reported being unable to see political posts, such as content criticising the shooting by federal agents of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. Newsom's office said it has received confirmed reports of TikTok suppressing content critical of President Donald Trump. "Following TikTok's sale to a Trump-aligned business group, our office has received reports - and independently confirmed instances - of suppressed content critical of President Trump," wrote the California governor's office on X on Monday. His post linked to another X user's post containing a screenshot from TikTok, that appeared to show the video-sharing app flagging up a message they tried to send saying "Epstein". It said Newsom would be "launching a review of this content" and probe whether the company had violated the state's laws.
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The same flag seemingly appeared for other US TikTok users when they tried to message others with the Epstein surname, according to social media posts seen by BBC News. Many users are speculating that this, combined with some political content not displaying in the app's For You feed or in search, may be censorship by TikTok's new US owners - with investors and directors some believe have ties to Trump. Celebrities have also spoken out over similar concerns about the app. Hacks actress Meg Stalter told Instagram followers on Sunday she had deleted her TikTok account because the app was "under new ownership and we are being completely censored and monitored". Similar views have been echoed across social media, with many US users questioning in posts whether the app is "cooked".
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"Extremely slow"
Users of the video-sharing app in the US have been posting on social media about problems throughout the outage, which began on Sunday. Platform outage monitor Downdetector told the BBC it had received 663,061 reports of issues from US users of TikTok between Saturday and Monday. "Okay so is anyone else's TikTok being extremely slow, keeps showing you old videos, doesn't show you what you what you actually search, and doesn't load certain stuff….," one X user asked on Sunday. Some users said they could not view creator monetisation tools on the app, with others noticing new videos they had uploaded to the platform did not have the same visibility as usual or were "stuck at zero views".
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