TikTokers are fleeing the platform, claiming that it has stifled content criticizing ICE and discussion of Jeffrey Epstein since a MAGA-friendly ownership group took over.
Singer Billie Eilish is among those speaking out, writing that “TikTok is silencing people” who post in support of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old Veterans Affairs nurse who was shot dead by a Border Patrol agent.
Eilish said a critical TikTok post about ICE by her brother, Finneas, was suppressed. Other left-wing accounts, like that of Democratic California state Sen. Scott Weiner, said his TikTok views have plummeted since Oracle, which is primarily owned by the Trump ally Larry Ellison, became one of its owners.
“TikTok is now state-controlled media,” Weiner wrote. “This morning, I posted a TikTok about my legislation allowing people to sue ICE agents. It’s sitting at zero views, and I’m not the only person this is happening to.”
Weiner suggested he is leaving the app, writing, “TikTok is dead. Killed by the regime & the corrupt kleptocrats suckling at its teat.”
HBO’s Hacks star Meg Stalter said TikTok refused to let her upload a video criticizing ICE to her 278,000 followers, so she is out for good.
“Hi, so today I will be downloading my videos and deleting my TikTok page,” the comedian said on Instagram. “TT is under new ownership and we are being completely censored and monitored. I’m unable to upload anything about [ICE] even after I tried to trick the page by making it look like a comedy video.”
Stalter’s TikTok account shows as already being deleted.
The page “queencitytrends,” which has 4.5 million followers, urged Stalter’s TikTok followers to view her Instagram posts about ICE because she said they could not be posted on her page.
Removals of the TikTok app spiked by 150 percent in the five days after U.S. operations were moved to a Trump-friendly, U.S.-based joint venture, CNBC reported Monday, comparing removal rates to the previous three months.
TikToker “dreronayne” wrote on Threads that she deleted her account with more than 400,000 followers because its “terms of agreement and censorship have gotten out of control.” The user “Gino the Ghost” also wrote that “TikTok is officially dead,” claiming his videos were being suppressed.
“Since the US government and Oracle took over, anything critical of the government is either taken down or suppressed to zero. CCP type beat,” he wrote.
Nadya Okamoto, a TikToker with more than 4 million followers, said top creators are paranoid about the app’s behavior over the past few days. TikTok has said issues with uploads and view counts are due to a “power outage at a U.S. data center.”
Okamoto told CNBC that not everyone on TikTok is convinced.
“Online, there’s a lot of conversation about—is this all coincidence or censorship, and what does this look like?” Okamoto said. “For everything to be happening at once, it is very scary.”
Reached for comment, TikTok denied suppressing content about Epstein or the ICE crackdown in Minnesota. It pointed the Daily Beast to its previous statements, which said “a major infrastructure issue triggered by a power outage at one of our U.S. data center partner sites” is behind the app’s issues.
“We’ve made significant progress in recovering our U.S. infrastructure with our U.S. data center partner,” TikTok said in a Tuesday morning update. “However, the U.S. user experience may still have some technical issues, including when posting new content. We’re committed to bringing TikTok back to its full capacity as soon as possible. We’ll continue to provide updates.”
These statements may be too little, too late for many users.
TechCrunch reported that sign-ups for TikTok alternative Skylight increased by more than 150 percent in a 24-hour span over the weekend. The Australia-based app UpSkrolled, another TikTok alternative, is now the No. 2 app on the App Store, following only ChatGPT.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is among those saying the country should not take TikTok at its word. He announced Monday that investigators in his state would probe the cause of TikTok’s issues and alleged censorship of anti-MAGA content.
“It’s time to investigate,” he wrote on X. “I am launching a review into whether TikTok is violating state law by censoring Trump-critical content.”
Sen. Chris Murphy also weighed in on the issue.
“I know it’s hard to track all the threats to democracy out there right now, but this is at the top of the list,” the Connecticut Democrat wrote.
