Can we believe the representatives of a powerful social network when they claim to be in no way responsible for what appears to be a form of censorship on their platform? This is what the spokespersons for the American subsidiary of TikTok are trying to convince public opinion of, while they are currently facing a controversy linked to the Jeffrey Epstein affair.
As NPR tells us, some users complained about not being able to send messages when they contained the word “Epstein”, which prompted California Governor Gavin Newsom to announce the opening of an investigation into the subject. For its part, TikTok denies any responsibility: “We have no rules against mentioning the name “Epstein” in direct messages and we are investigating why some users are experiencing issues.”TikTok’s American communicators told NPR.
Unfortunate timing
The announcement comes shortly after TikTok completed a sale that gave a consortium of mostly American investors control of the platform’s operations in the United States. Among other things, the deal helped avoid a nationwide ban on the app over national security concerns linked to its Chinese parent company.
Among the main investors is the technology company Oracle, whose director, billionaire Larry Ellison, is close to Donald Trump. However, the name of the American president has very often been cited in the Jeffrey Epstein affair. It is therefore difficult not to see in the publication incidents linked to the name “Epstein” a form of censorship exercised by the social network.
Many Internet users have pointed out this violation of freedom of expression, mobilizing around the hashtag #TikTokCensorship on In response, TikTok says none of its content moderation rules have been changed.
Tests carried out by NPR and some users of the social network showed that the problem was random: while some Internet users could send messages containing “Epstein”, others were not allowed to do so. According to a TikTok spokesperson, the exact cause of this random block remains unknown and is still under investigation. However, can we believe that the platform has nothing to do with it?
