TikTok US denies claims to censor content

TikTok has denied claims that its new US operations heavily control what users post after thousands of problems were reported with the video streaming platform.

In a response to the BBC, a TikTok US spokesperson reiterated an earlier statement saying technical issues were to blame since the company became a separate US entity last week.

“We have made significant progress in recovering our US infrastructure with our US data center partner,” they said. “However, the user experience in the United States may still experience some technical issues, particularly when publishing new content.”

They also pushed back against users’ claims that they could not use the name “Epstein” on TikTok.

It refers to Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased sex offender and financier. The Trump administration continues to face 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 issues identified with the platform were being resolved, California Governor Gavin Newsom nevertheless announced an investigation into allegations of TikTok censoring content critical of the Trump administration.

Last Thursday, an agreement was reached to separate the operation of the application in the United States. Three days later, thousands of US users began reporting problems, including seeing “no views” on new posts.

Many also said they were unable to see political messages, such as content critical of the shooting by federal agents from ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Newsom’s office said it received confirmed reports that TikTok removed content critical of President Donald Trump.

“Following the sale of TikTok to a Trump-aligned business group, our office has received reports – and independently confirmed instances – of content critical of President Trump being removed,” the California governor’s office wrote. on X Monday.

His post linked to one from another user

He said Newsom would “initiate a review of this content” and investigate whether the company violated state laws.

The same flag apparently appeared for other American TikTok users when they tried to message others with the last name Epstein, according to social media posts seen by BBC News.

Many users believe this, combined with some political content not showing up in the app’s For You feed or in searches, could constitute censorship. by the new American owners of TikTok — with investors and executives who some say have ties to Trump.

Celebrities have also expressed similar concerns about the app.

Hacks actress Meg Stalter told her Instagram followers on Sunday that she deleted her TikTok account because the app was “under new ownership and we are completely censored and monitored.”

Similar views were echoed on social media, with many US users questioning in their posts whether the app was “baked”.

In the United States, users of the video-sharing app reported problems on social media throughout the outage, which began on Sunday.

Platform outage monitor Downdetector told the BBC it received 663,061 reports of issues from US TikTok users between Saturday and Monday.

“Okay, is someone else’s TikTok extremely slow, keeps showing you old videos, doesn’t show you what you’re actually looking for, and won’t load certain items…” one X user asked on Sunday.

Some users said they couldn’t view creator monetization tools on the app, while others noticed that new videos they uploaded to the platform didn’t have the same visibility as usual or were “stuck at zero views.”

American owner of TikTok said Monday users may notice “multiple bugs, slower load times, or timed out requests” as it worked to resolve issues triggered by a power outage at one of its data center partner Oracle’s sites.

“Although the network was restored, the outage caused a cascading system outage that we worked to resolve with our data center partner.” he said.

The company also sought to reassure users that their data and content “was secure.”

As with the many other issues reportedly affecting the TikTok app and its sister app CapCut since Sunday, they appear to be largely confined to the United States.

As part of Trump’s deal allowing TikTok to continue operating in the United States, Oracle will inspect and retrain a separate version of its algorithm for American users.

The cloud giant is one of three managing investors in TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, holding a 15% stake in the spun-off US entity.