Newsom Probes TikTok for Trump Censorship

California Governor Gavin Newsom has launched an official review into TikTok's content moderation practices, accusing the platform of suppressing posts critical of President Donald Trump. The move escalates scrutiny of the social media giant just after its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, finalized a deal to secure its U.S. operations.

California Alleges Politically Motivated Suppression

On Monday, Newsom's office announced that it had received reports and independently verified instances of content critical of President Trump being suppressed on TikTok. The governor has called on the California Department of Justice to investigate whether this conduct violates state law.

The accusations directly link the alleged censorship to the platform's recent sale to what Newsom's office described as a "Trump-aligned business group." This development has sparked concerns over the platform's editorial independence and its role in political discourse.

TikTok Blames Technical Failures for Glitches

In response, a representative for TikTok's new U.S. joint venture dismissed the allegations as inaccurate. The company attributed the performance issues to a data center power outage that caused a "cascading systems failure."

According to a statement released before Newsom's announcement, the company acknowledged that users might experience bugs, slow load times, or failed posts. The representative stressed that the problems were purely technical and that the network has since been recovered, though a full resolution is still underway.

User Reports Fuel Censorship Suspicions

The official investigation comes amid a wave of user complaints about abnormalities on the platform. Several users reported that their posts were being censored, adding weight to the governor's concerns.

• Steve Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University's School of Law, reported that a video he made about federal immigration powers was placed "under review."

• Casey Fiesler, an expert in technology ethics at the University of Colorado, noted a "significant lack of trust" in TikTok's new ownership. She told CNN that she experienced problems uploading videos related to an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

Scrutiny Follows Landmark U.S. Deal

The controversy follows a landmark deal designed to resolve longstanding U.S. government concerns over national security and data privacy. The agreement established TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC to manage the app's U.S. user data, algorithms, and security.

The deal, praised by Trump, was seen as a major milestone for ByteDance after years of regulatory battles under both the Trump and Biden administrations. The new ownership structure is as follows:

• American and global investors: Hold an 80.1% majority stake.

• ByteDance: Retains a 19.9% stake.

• Managing Investors: Cloud company Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX each hold a 15% stake.

A White House official confirmed that both the U.S. and Chinese governments had approved the arrangement. President Trump, who has over 16 million followers on his personal account, previously credited TikTok with helping him win the 2024 election.