Newsom’s announcement comes amid broader accusations that TikTok is flagging content that criticizes the Trump administration, immigration, and the release of the Epstein Files.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that his office will investigate whether TikTok is breaking state law by censoring content that is critical of President Donald Trump.
“It’s time to investigate,” Newsom said on various social media platforms. “I am launching a review into whether TikTok is violating state law by censoring Trump-critical content.”
Newsom’s announcement comes amid broader accusations that TikTok is flagging content that criticizes the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the release of the Epstein Files.
These allegations come days after the Chinese platform owned by ByteDance finalized a deal with a U.S. company to avoid a nationwide ban.
ByteDance sold its U.S. entity to the tech giant, Oracle, for a reported $14 billion. Larry Ellison, a staunch Trump ally and billionaire, co-founded the tech company.
California Governor’s Office Receives Multiple Reports of TikTok Censorship
In another post on X, Newsom’s office said it had received multiple reports and had independently confirmed “instances of suppressed content critical of President Trump.”
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) January 27, 2026
The governor’s office told Politico that it tried sending a direct message on the platform containing the word “Epstein,” but later received a warning that it could not be sent because it “may violate” TikTok’s community guidelines.
TikTok’s U.S. venture has since responded. In a post on X Monday, the U.S joint venture attributed the censorship incidents to recent bugs and a “major infrastructure issue” caused by a power outage at one of its U.S. data center sites.
“While the network has been recovered, the outrage caused a cascading systems failure that we’ve been working to resolve together with our data center partner,” the team wrote.
They added that people may notice “multiple bugs,” “slower load times,” or “timed-out requests” when posting new content.
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Source: Black Enterprise
