Newsom Probes TikTok’s Political Censorship

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California Governor Gavin Newsom’s latest investigation could unveil a new layer of political censorship, potentially altering the landscape of social media control in America.

Story Highlights

Governor Newsom investigates TikTok for allegedly suppressing anti-Trump content.
Ownership restructuring places TikTok under Trump-aligned control.
Allegations of blocking the word “Epstein” raise censorship concerns.
Technical issues attributed to a data center outage by TikTok.

Governor Newsom’s Investigation

On January 26, 2026, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a formal investigation into TikTok’s alleged suppression of content critical of President Donald Trump. Reports from various content creators, elected officials, and users claim that videos and messages criticizing Trump, especially concerning ICE actions, are being censored or experiencing artificially suppressed view counts. This investigation comes just days after TikTok’s ownership restructuring, which shifted majority control to Trump-aligned American investors.

TikTok attributed these issues to a power outage at a U.S. data center, which reportedly caused widespread system failures. However, the timing of these problems, coinciding with the ownership transfer, has raised suspicions of deliberate censorship, leading to Newsom’s probe into potential violations of state law.

Gavin Newsom accuses TikTok of suppressing content critical of Trump
➡️ https://t.co/XfbZbV4fDH pic.twitter.com/Zd7Vy4znPX

— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) January 27, 2026

Ownership Restructuring and Its Implications

The restructuring of TikTok’s ownership, finalized on January 23, 2026, reduced Chinese ownership to 19.9% and placed majority control with American investors aligned with Trump. This includes Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a known Trump supporter. This shift has sparked concerns over whether TikTok is now functioning as “state-controlled media” under Trump influence. The blocking of the word “Epstein,” referencing Trump’s association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has become a focal point of the investigation, symbolizing potential political censorship.

Creators and politicians, like State Senator Scott Wiener, have reported instances of content suppression. For instance, Wiener’s video about legislation allowing people to sue ICE agents received zero views, despite his usual high engagement. These reports have fueled the narrative that TikTok might be censoring content critical of Trump.

TikTok’s Defense and Technical Challenges

TikTok has responded to the allegations by attributing the platform issues to technical infrastructure problems. The company cited a power outage at a U.S. data center, resulting in a “cascading systems failure” that led to multiple bugs, slower load times, and display errors showing zero views or likes. Despite this explanation, many users and creators remain skeptical, given the timing of the ownership change.

Thousands of user issues were reported on outage tracker Downdetector, further complicating the matter. While TikTok’s technical explanation is plausible, the coincidence of these problems with the ownership restructuring fuels the perception of political bias.