TikTok US denies claims it’s censoring content material

[ad_1] Liv McMahon Expertise reporter

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/3d0c/live/05b02900-fade-11f0-8165-918f1a8ba904.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/3d0c/live/05b02900-fade-11f0-8165-918f1a8ba904.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3d0c/live/05b02900-fade-11f0-8165-918f1a8ba904.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/3d0c/live/05b02900-fade-11f0-8165-918f1a8ba904.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/3d0c/live/05b02900-fade-11f0-8165-918f1a8ba904.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/3d0c/live/05b02900-fade-11f0-8165-918f1a8ba904.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/3d0c/live/05b02900-fade-11f0-8165-918f1a8ba904.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3d0c/live/05b02900-fade-11f0-8165-918f1a8ba904.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images TikTok logo shown on a smartphone against a backdrop illustrating rising and falling reports with a red line" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Photos TikTok has denied claims that its new US operations are heavily-controlling what customers submit after 1000's reported glitches with the video streaming platform.

In a response to the BBC, a spokesperson for TikTok US reiterated an earlier assertion pointing to technical points being the explanation for points because it turned a separate American entity final week.

"We have made important progress in recovering our US infrastructure with our US information heart accomplice," they stated. "Nonetheless, the US consumer expertise should still have some technical points, together with when posting new content material."

Additionally they pushed again on customers' claims they weren't ready to make use of the title "Epstein" on TikTok.

It refers to Jeffrey Epstein, the lifeless convicted intercourse offender and financier. The Trump administration has continued to face fierce scrutiny for its dealing with of the Epstein case.

TikTok stated there aren't any guidelines towards sharing the title "Epstein" in direct messages.

Whereas the corporate stated issues recognized with the platform are being addressed, California Governor Gavin Newsom has however introduced an investigation into claims TikTok has censored content material which is vital of the Trump administration.

Final Thursday, a deal was concluded to separate off the US operation of the app - three days later 1000's of American customers started reporting issues together with seeing "zero views" on new posts.

Many additionally reported being unable to see political posts, similar to content material criticising the taking pictures by federal brokers of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Newsom's workplace stated it has obtained confirmed experiences of TikTok suppressing content material vital of President Donald Trump.

"Following TikTok's sale to a Trump-aligned enterprise group, our workplace has obtained experiences - and independently confirmed cases - of suppressed content material vital of President Trump," wrote the California governor's workplace on X on Monday.

His submit linked to a different X consumer's submit containing a screenshot from TikTok, that appeared to indicate the video-sharing app flagging up a message they tried to ship saying "Epstein".

It stated Newsom could be "launching a evaluation of this content material" and probe whether or not the corporate had violated the state's legal guidelines.

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The identical flag seemingly appeared for different US TikTok customers once they tried to message others with the Epstein surname, in line with social media posts seen by BBC Information.

Many customers are speculating that this, mixed with some political content material not displaying within the app's For You feed or in search, could also be censorship by TikTok's new US house owners - with buyers and administrators some consider have ties to Trump.

Celebrities have additionally spoken out over comparable considerations concerning the app.

Hacks actress Meg Stalter instructed Instagram followers on Sunday she had deleted her TikTok account as a result of the app was "below new possession and we're being fully censored and monitored".

Comparable views have been echoed throughout social media, with many US customers questioning in posts whether or not the app is "cooked".

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"Extraordinarily sluggish"

Customers of the video-sharing app within the US have been posting on social media about issues all through the outage, which started on Sunday.

Platform outage monitor Downdetector instructed the BBC it had obtained 663,061 experiences of points from US customers of TikTok between Saturday and Monday.

"Okay so is anybody else's TikTok being extraordinarily sluggish, retains exhibiting you outdated movies, does not present you what you what you truly search, and does not load sure stuff….," one X consumer requested on Sunday.

Some customers stated they may not view creator monetisation instruments on the app, with others noticing new movies they'd uploaded to the platform didn't have the identical visibility as regular or have been "caught at zero views".

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TikTok's US proprietor stated on Monday customers might discover "a number of bugs, slower load instances or timed-out requests" because it it labored to resolve points triggered by an influence outage at considered one of its information centre accomplice Oracle's websites.

"Whereas the community has been recovered, the outage precipitated a cascading techniques failure that we have been working to resolve along with our information centre accomplice." it stated.

The corporate additionally sought to reassure customers their information and content material engagement "have been protected".

As with the numerous different points reportedly affecting the TikTok app and its sister app CapCut since Sunday, they seemed to be largely contained to the US.

As a part of Trump's deal permitting TikTok to proceed working within the US, Oracle will examine and retrain a separate model of its algorithm for American customers.