Researchers say no evidence of TikTok censorship, but they remain wary
Posts have been going viral on social media accusing TikTok’s new owners of suppressing content, but eight academics examined the issue and found no evidence to support the claims.
As a consortium of investors led by Oracle’s Larry Ellison took control of TikTok’s U.S. business, users accused the app of throttling videos about Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and posts related to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Posts went viral on social media pinning the perceived suppression of content on TikTok’s new bosses. The hashtag #TikTokCensorship gained traction on X, droves of users downloaded TikTok alternatives and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and lawmakers in the European Union, called for investigations.
But a data center outage that wreaked havoc on the platform appears to have disrupted all categories of posts, rather than singling out political content, according to a new analysis in the publication Good Authority. It was conducted by eight academics examining how videos were trending during the ownership transition.
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