Sacramento, California — California Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered a state-level review of TikTok following a wave of user complaints alleging that the platform suppressed videos critical of former President Donald Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and recent immigration-related incidents.
The move comes after multiple TikTok users reported sudden failures when attempting to upload or view politically sensitive content, including videos referencing ICE operations and protests in Minnesota. Some users also claimed that TikTok’s messaging and posting systems blocked specific keywords, including the name “Epstein,” sparking fresh concerns over selective moderation or algorithmic interference.
Governor Newsom signaled the seriousness of the issue in a social media post, stating that the allegations warranted closer scrutiny. His comments followed reports that the platform experienced widespread service disruptions shortly after a major ownership restructuring of TikTok’s U.S. operations.
TikTok Cites Technical Failures, Not Content Moderation
TikTok has denied any political censorship, attributing the disruption to a power outage affecting a U.S.-based data center. According to the company, the outage temporarily impacted core features such as user logins, video uploads, and content visibility.
“We’ve made significant progress in restoring our U.S. infrastructure,” TikTok said in a statement, while acknowledging that posting and viewing issues may persist for some users until systems are fully stabilized.
Despite the explanation, skepticism remains high among users and lawmakers, particularly given the timing of the incident.
Ownership Shift Raises Political Sensitivities
The controversy unfolds just days after TikTok’s U.S. business transitioned from Chinese parent company ByteDance to a new U.S.-based joint venture. The deal includes Oracle as a major partner—an arrangement that has drawn attention due to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison’s political alignment with Donald Trump.
While no evidence has emerged linking the ownership change to content moderation decisions, critics argue that the coincidence has intensified fears of political influence over one of the world’s most powerful social media platforms.
California State Senator Scott Wiener publicly accused TikTok of suppressing political speech, claiming that a video he posted related to legislation allowing civil lawsuits against ICE agents received no distribution. “I’m not the only one experiencing this,” Wiener said, suggesting the issue may be systemic rather than isolated.
A Familiar Pattern for Big Tech
This is not the first time TikTok—or major tech platforms more broadly—has faced allegations of political bias or opaque moderation practices. Over the past several years, social media companies have repeatedly come under fire from both conservative and progressive groups, often simultaneously, over claims of censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and lack of transparency.
What makes the current situation distinct is the heightened scrutiny surrounding TikTok’s U.S. governance structure and ongoing concerns over national security, data sovereignty, and political influence.
What Happens Next
Governor Newsom’s review is expected to examine whether TikTok’s recent disruptions violated state consumer protection laws or free expression standards, particularly if technical failures disproportionately affected specific viewpoints.
For now, TikTok maintains that the problems are purely operational and unrelated to content or ideology. However, as access to digital platforms becomes increasingly central to political discourse, even temporary outages can have outsized consequences—especially when they intersect with deeply polarized national debates.
Whether this incident proves to be a technical misstep or something more consequential may shape how regulators, users, and policymakers view TikTok’s role in America’s digital public square going forward.
