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🚨 THE BIG STORY: TikTok’s Censorship Crisis

It started with videos that wouldn’t upload ⏳📤.

On Saturday night, Hacks star Megan Stalter tried to post a video urging Christians to oppose ICE following the fatal shooting of Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents. She attempted for hours. Nothing worked. “I’ve tried for hours to upload the same video, and it wouldn’t show it to one person,” she wrote on Instagram. “TikTok is under new ownership and we are being completely censored and monitored.” (The Wrap, Jan. 26, 2026)

Then Billie Eilish posted a screenshot showing her brother Finneas’s anti-ICE video had just 114 likes — a fraction of his normal reach — with the caption: “TikTok is silencing people btw.” Queer Eye’s Bobby Berk reported the same experience, adding that he couldn’t even delete his account because the app kept “freezing.” (Out Magazine, Jan. 26, 2026)

Across the platform, creators reported their Minneapolis-related videos were flagged as “Ineligible for Recommendation.” Some couldn’t repost anything mentioning Alex Pretti. Freelance journalist David Leavitt shared screenshots that accumulated over 1 million views on X, prompting Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) to respond: “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.” (NBC News, Jan. 26, 2026)

⚡ TikTok’s Response: Power Outage, Not Politics

TikTok’s newly formed U.S. joint venture issued a statement Monday morning 🗓️: “Since yesterday we’ve been working to restore our services following a power outage at a U.S. data center impacting TikTok and other apps we operate.” The company denied any political censorship 🚫🗳️. (CNBC, Jan. 27, 2026)

But that explanation hasn’t satisfied critics — or California Governor Gavin Newsom 🏛️, who announced Monday he’s launching an investigation into whether TikTok violated state law. “Our office has received reports — and independently confirmed instances — of suppressed content critical of President Trump,” his press office stated.(NBC San Diego, Jan. 26, 2026)

🧩 The Uncomfortable Question: Did Trump’s “Save” Create a Censorship Infrastructure?

The timing is impossible to ignore ⏰. The TikTok USDS Joint Venture deal closed on January 22 — just three days before the Minneapolis shooting and the subsequent content moderation chaos. Under the deal, Oracle (co-founded by known Trump supporter Larry Ellison), Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX each hold 15% stakes, with ByteDance retaining 19.9%. (CBS News, Jan. 23, 2026)

Remember what Trump said in September 🧢 when he signed the executive order facilitating the deal? “If I could make it 100% MAGA, I would, but it’s not going to work out that way, unfortunately.” (The Daily Beast, Jan. 26, 2026)

The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s David Greene put it bluntly 🧠:: “When Trump said he ‘would save TikTok,’ we explained that that meant he would arrange to have it sold to someone beholden to him, or otherwise willing to do his bidding.” (NBC News, Jan. 26, 2026)

The bipartisan TikTok ban legislation, originally championed under Biden, was designed to prevent foreign influence over American social media. The irony is bitter: legislators feared China might use TikTok to manipulate American discourse. They may have instead created a framework for domestic political control.

📜 The New Terms of Service Are Also Alarming

Beyond the outage ⚠️, creators are noticing changes in TikTok’s updated terms of service. The new policy explicitly claims the right to show users “customized ads and sponsored content” on other websites based on TikTok behavior 🎯. The platform now collects “sensitive” data including precise location 📍 and potentially inferred traits like religious affiliation or immigration status. (CelebrityAccess, Jan. 26, 2026)

For creators who built audiences on promises of creative freedom 🎨, the combination is chilling ❄️: new conservative-aligned ownership, expanded data collection, and content that mysteriously fails to reach audiences exactly when it criticizes federal enforcement.

🧵 Style & Stitches Analysis: Whether TikTok’s weekend chaos was a technical failure or something more sinister may never be definitively proven 🤷‍♂️. But the perception damage is done. Trust, once broken, doesn’t restore with a “power outage” explanation 🔌.

For media creators 🎙️, the lesson is existential: any platform can become hostile overnight 🌪️. The creators who weather these storms will be those who treated platform distribution as a means to building direct audience relationships — not as the relationship itself.