Since the outage, users have noticed a subtle but unsettling shift. Videos about Palestinian protests, criticism of Trump and even satirical edits of Luigi Mangione — the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — seem harder to find, removed or outright blocked in search results. The change isn’t glaring, but it raises a question beyond TikTok’s servers: Who controls the flow of information in America, and what happens when that control tightens overnight?
According to a Reuters article, TikTok user Lisa Cline reported on Meta’s Threads that after the ban was lifted, she was unable to upload her video criticizing Trump. “I tried to post this six times to TikTok and it wouldn’t let me because of censorship, here’s [to] hoping it works here,” Cline said to Reuters. Her video referenced Trump’s response to Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who urged him to show mercy to those who are “scared.”
Meanwhile, Danisha Carter, a political and social commentator with 2 million followers, found her account permanently suspended shortly after TikTok’s return. She received a vague notification about “multiple policy violations” but no specific explanation. Her last livestream had criticized tech executives for their growing influence over American politics and businesses.
Of course, there’s no way to confirm exactly what changed on TikTok between Saturday night and Sunday morning — or whether it was intentional. The app’s algorithm is a black box, and fluctuations could very well be coincidental. But Carter’s and Cline’s experiences do, undoubtedly, point to a potential pattern: Those who challenge power — whether corporate, governmental or both — may be the most at risk of being silenced.
Roughly one-third of Americans aged 18-29 now get their news from TikTok, according to a 2023 survey that Pew Research Center conducted. But if the app quietly suppresses political content, millions of young people could be absorbing a filtered, sanitized version of reality without even realizing it. And in the broader political landscape, the timing is quite hard to ignore.
Let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture. At Trump’s 2025 inauguration, Silicon Valley’s top executives sat in the front row — closer than most members of Congress. That seating arrangement alone spoke volumes about the country’s true centers of power. Among them were Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk took the stage to personally thank the audience for “making it happen” — a clear nod to those who helped secure Trump’s return to office.
Whether TikTok’s recent changes are intentional or not, the mere possibility of politically motivated censorship should concern everyone. Social media has long been hailed as the “great equalizer” — a space where activists, independent journalists and ordinary citizens can challenge official narratives. But if these platforms subtly suppress dissent, we’re moving toward something far more dystopian; ironically, at a time when dystopian books themselves are on the verge of being banned.
Sure, the 14-hour blackout of Jan. 18 was unsettling. But what’s even more disturbing is what TikTok may have become when the lights came back on.
Jeannine Chang is a senior at Burlingame High School. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.
(2) comments
"Whether TikTok’s recent changes are intentional or not, the mere possibility of politically motivated censorship should concern everyone."
Completely agree Jeannine. I know you are young, but I hope you were also as upset when (then) Twitter, Facebook, Youtube etc. took down (now verified true) posts about the Hunter Biden laptop just days before the 2020 election. In 2020 I was in a multiple thousand person "Reopen California" Facebook group that one day simply disappeared. Mark Zuckerberg has since admitted that the Biden administration pressured FB staffers to remove completely true posts about vaccine side effects. Youtube to this day censors and demonitizes vaccine criticism. On the old pre-Elon Twitter, accounts would be deleted if someone refused to call men like 6'4" UPenn swimmer "Lia" Thomas women.
What you are describing on Tik Tok if true is certainly concerning. We are all at the mercy of the algorithm on these various platforms. While my position is almost absolutist when it comes to free speech (barring targeted harassment and calls to violence and allowing most everything else) the outrage should not be selective when it happens to the left only.
Very well written MichKosk. You’ve encompassed the highlights I would have mentioned in a response to Ms. Chiang’s column. I completely agree with your position on free speech. It should be noted that to a certain degree, it is likely that there is censorship to some degree with all sites. The DJ and likely other sites have a set of censored words they do not allow when comments are made. (At least they did previously but since I’ve been “trained” I haven’t bothered using them so they may be allowed now.) When comments are submitted, an editor has the last word on whether comments are allowed to be posted. Or removed.
Sites labeled to be center or conservative allow more of an “everything goes” when it comes to comments whereas those on the left do not favor this approach. The DJ is one of the few in the middle of an extremely blue area to allow just about all comments, within reason, to be posted, as our dear readers can attest to. And many are thankful.
Bottom line, you’re restricted by someone else’s playground. If you don’t like it, find another medium. Those who abandoned X and signing up for Bluesky are finding that that medium isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be – basically a giant echo chamber where censorship requests increase against others, even on the left. And of course, censoring anyone engaged in wrongthink per Blusky’s employees.
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