A wave of glitches and content disruptions on TikTok’s US app has sparked concerns among users, with the company saying the problems stemmed from a power outage at one of its data centres. TikTok denied claims that it was censoring political speech, stressing that the recent issues were technical in nature and linked to infrastructure failures rather than content moderation decisions.
The complaints emerged after TikTok began operating under a newly formed US led joint venture following months of political pressure over its Chinese ownership. In a tense political environment, viral posts accused the platform of suppressing certain political views and blocking the word “Epstein” in direct messages. A news network confirmed that messages containing the word “Epstein” triggered an error message, but could not independently verify wider censorship claims. A company spokesperson said the platform does not ban the term and is investigating why some users are affected.
The sensitivity around the messaging issue relates to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender. Since December, the Department of Justice has been releasing batches of documents linked to its investigations, though the full set of the so called “Epstein files” has not yet been released. The issue drew further attention after California Governor Gavin Newsom said his office had received and confirmed reports of suppressed content critical of President Trump and had launched a review to assess whether the issue violates California law, despite not providing evidence.
In a viral post on X, freelance journalist David Leavitt shared screenshots showing his videos marked as “Ineligible for Recommendation” and claimed content critical of Trump and ICE was being limited. ICE is currently conducting a politically charged operation in Minneapolis, where the fatal shootings of 2 US citizens during federal enforcement actions have fueled outrage. TikTok said videos of the Minnesota incident have been available since Saturday and added it was “continuing to resolve” a cascading systems failure that caused bugs, slower load times and temporary “0” views or likes. Under TikTok’s new ownership structure, ByteDance holds 19.9% while US and global investors control 80.1%, including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX with 15% each.
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