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Searches for anti-Trump content are now appearing hidden on TikTok for many users after the app came back online in the U.S.
TikTok users have taken to X to share that when they search for topics negatively related to President Donald Trump, a message pops up saying "No results found" and that the phrases may violate the app's guidelines.
TikTok is now region locking Americans from looking up things like "fascism" and "Donald Trump rigged election"
— Karl Max 🪶📃 (@KarlMaxxed) January 20, 2025
on the left are results from a device in America, and on the right are results from one in the UK. pic.twitter.com/k8pTlkftZp
One user said that when they tried to search "Donald Trump rigged election" on a U.S. account, they were met with blocked results. Meanwhile, the same phrase searched from a U.K. account prompted results.
Another user shared video of them switching between a U.S. and U.K. VPN to back up the user's viral claims, which has since amassed more than 187,000 likes.
VPN from USA to UK confirms it. pic.twitter.com/I88JJwT8AB
— Emily Saxton (@ItsEmilySaxton) January 21, 2025
"Apparently this is a bit inconsistent depending on the phrasing used, but remains something that is (as far as i can tell) exclusive to Americans, and IS still part of a blatant effort to censor progressive discussion," the user added in a comment under the viral post.
Other users shared that searches for the same content that contained spelling errors would result in the content being shared with U.S. users. In one video of a user sharing searches for different hashtags, #f***biden was allowed but #f***trump did not pop up.
If you spell everything correctly, you get no results, if you make a spelling error it has thousands of results. It's censoring specific key words. pic.twitter.com/gi9AhED0DF
— Nick Wermuth (@DownyPlusUltra) January 20, 2025
Censorship on TikTok is at an all time high with accounts being deleted, posts going back years being flagged, people losing access to the creator fund for saying anything Anti Trump, MAGA, Elon, etc
— Dustin Genereux (@DustinGenereux) January 20, 2025
But free speech and all that right? pic.twitter.com/2tPjCW9FRN
"Just tried and basically they're censoring certain words.. so if you make typos they're going to show up... TikTok is now Trump's propaganda arm," one user commented.
"So I guess the stipulation for TikTok to stay was to turn into a Trump propaganda machine," another user wrote.
Confirming from my device. So i guess the stipulation for Tik Tok to stay was to turn into the Trump propaganda machine 🤷♂️ (not that it wasn’t immediately obvious already) pic.twitter.com/bVwFELBILd
— Sean Coakley (@LittleCoaks) January 20, 2025
Searching voter fraud also is censored pic.twitter.com/Yyt9G4GqUu
— Tyler Appell (@TylerAppell) January 20, 2025
Some users added that they received warnings from the app while trying to repost political videos. One user explained that they were told they had connectivity issues despite no previous issues scrolling through the app.
"I'm trying to repost a video criticizing Trump for his anti-trans political agenda and it's claiming I am not connected to the internet even though I'm clearly connected and can scroll with no issues..." the user wrote on X.
So.. uh.. anyone else getting this error on the New TikTok? I'm trying to repost a video criticizing Trump for his anti trans political agenda and it's claiming I am not connected to the internet even though I'm clearly connected and can scroll with no issues... pic.twitter.com/9acFRLuFrk
— Damien Dread ⛓️🧷 | VHorrorS📼 (@DamienDreadVT) January 20, 2025
I was getting that on anti Trump posts as well. Also I got this warning as well 👿 pic.twitter.com/3ZXye3xnij
— OctoButter🐙🧈 (@OctoxButter) January 21, 2025
While American users shared that they had no issues with the app, others suggested that the blocked terms could be related to restricted searches following the 2020 election.
I must be a blessed American then. pic.twitter.com/FOIOd12XXx
— Amanda S. Whitt 👑 (@amandaswhitt) January 20, 2025
“Stop the steal” is also banned. Are these holdovers from the 2021 bans? It and “rigged election” are generally terms associated with Jan 6. pic.twitter.com/DSlWy060Bd
— Philippe Duhart (@PhilippeDuhart) January 20, 2025
However, many users expressed dismay at the situation. "We are in a bad place," one user commented. "'The land of the free' my ass," another user wrote.
we are in the bad place 🤠
— Christine (@imeanitsxtine) January 20, 2025
"The land of the free" my ass...
— Amelie 🏴🇫🇷 (@MelieMel92) January 21, 2025
TikTok is not the only platform that users have expressed problems searching for political content on. Several users reported that #Democrats was being restricted on Instagram or was not available for them.
Meta said in a statement to the BBC that the "error affecting hashtags across the political spectrum" was being addressed.
TikTok has not yet publicly commented on users' claims of restricted political searches.
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