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TikTok Users Claim Words Like Epstein And Others Are Now Banned
TikTok has denied censoring U.S. users’ content, blaming widespread glitches after its split from ByteDance, even as California launches an investigation into claims of political suppression.
TikTok running on iPhone by Unsplash
TikTok has rejected claims that its newly independent U.S. operations are censoring user content, saying widespread problems reported by American users' stem from technical issues following the app’s recent corporate restructuring.
In a response to the BBC, a TikTok US spokesperson said the platform has faced infrastructure challenges since it became a separate American entity last week, after a deal split its U.S. division from Chinese parent company ByteDance. The spokesperson said TikTok had made “significant progress” restoring systems in partnership with its U.S. data center provider, Oracle, but acknowledged that users may still experience issues such as difficulty posting new content.
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The company also pushed back against claims that users were blocked from posting or messaging the name “Epstein,” referring to Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased convicted sex offender whose case continues to draw scrutiny of the Trump administration. TikTok said there are no rules prohibiting the use of the name “Epstein” in direct messages.
The denial comes after thousands of U.S. users reported glitches on the video-sharing platform in the days following the deal. Complaints included new videos receiving “zero views,” slow load times, older content appearing repeatedly in feeds, search results failing to load, and creator monetization tools being inaccessible.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced an investigation into allegations that TikTok is suppressing political content critical of President Donald Trump. His office said it had received confirmed reports of such suppression after TikTok’s sale to what it described as a Trump-aligned business group.
“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,” Newsom’s office said in a post on X. The post linked to a screenshot appearing to show TikTok flagging a message containing the word “Epstein.” Newsom said his office would review the content and investigate whether state laws had been violated.
Users also reported being unable to view political posts, including videos criticizing the shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. TikTok said it was addressing platform problems but did not provide details on how the issues affected specific content.
Outage-monitoring service Down detector told the BBC it received 663,061 reports of problems from U.S. TikTok users between Saturday and Monday. TikTok US said Monday that users might experience “multiple bugs, slower load times or timed-out requests” as it works to resolve issues caused by a power outage at one of Oracle’s data centers, which triggered what it described as a cascading systems failure. The company said user data and content engagement remained secure.
The technical issues appear to be largely confined to the United States, affecting TikTok and its sister app Cap Cut.
Speculation about censorship has grown online, with some users questioning the platform’s future. Actress Meg Stalter said on Instagram that she deleted her TikTok account, claiming the app was “under new ownership” and that users were being “completely censored and monitored.” Similar sentiments have circulated on Reddit and X, with some users declaring the platform “dead” following the U.S. purchase.
The new TikTok US entity is managed by a consortium of investors including Oracle, chaired by Republican donor and longtime Trump ally Larry Ellison, as well as U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake and Emirati investor MGX. ByteDance retains a 19.9% stake in the U.S. business. Michael Dell, founder of Dell Technologies and a Trump donor, is also an investor.
As part of the deal allowing TikTok to continue operating in the United States, Oracle will inspect and retrain a separate version of the app’s recommendation algorithm for American users.
Editor’s Note:
This article is based on reporting by BBC News and statements from TikTok US, California state officials, and user reports available at the time of publication.
