TikTok investigating why some users can’t write “Epstein” in messages : NPR
The TikTok logo is displayed outside the offices of social media application company TikTok in Culver City, California on March 16, 2023.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
TikTok officials say they are investigating why many users were unable to send the word “Epstein” in direct messages, an issue that garnered attention on social media Monday and prompted California Gov. Gavin Newsom to announce an investigation into the matter.
“We do not have rules against sharing the name ‘Epstein’ in direct messages and we are investigating why some users are experiencing issues,” a spokesperson for TikTok’s U.S. operations told NPR in a statement.
The timing escapes no one.
This comes just days after TikTok completed a sale that gave a consortium of mostly U.S. investors control of TikTok’s U.S. operations, a deal that avoided a nationwide ban on the app over national security concerns linked to its Chinese parent company.
Among the main investors is the technology company Oracle, led by billionaire Larry Ellison. He is a close ally of President Trump, whose ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have tormented the administration for months.
Many netizens pointed the finger at TikTok’s new owner, rallying behind the hashtag #TikTokCensorship on TikTok said none of its content moderation rules have changed.
A screenshot from the TikTok app shows how the use of the word “Epstein” is blocked.
Bobby Allyn
hide caption
toggle caption
Bobby Allyn
Yet when some users attempted to send direct messages containing the word “Epstein,” an automated prompt appeared stating that the message might violate TikTok’s community guidelines. The messages were not sent, according to the prompt, “to protect our community.”
Testing by NPR and other social media accounts shows this was happening inconsistently; Some users were able to send messages with “Epstein”, others were not. TikTok’s spokesperson said this is consistent with the company’s own analysis so far, but the exact cause is still under investigation.
Since TikTok changed ownership, the company has confirmed that it has been dealing with wide-ranging technical issues.
Thousands of users reported that the app was not working properly on Sunday and Monday. Some videos weren’t receiving any views, the main feed of videos wasn’t updating, and other basic functions seemed to lag or not work at all.
TikTok blamed the service outages on an outage at one of its data centers, which it was still trying to get under control as of Monday evening. These issues appear to have made the app shaky for many of its 200 million U.S. users, according to DownDetector, a site that tracks outages based on crowdsourced reporting.
While it’s not yet clear how TikTok’s new management might reshape the app’s content rules and algorithm, the platform’s privacy terms have changed since the new bosses took over, including the fact that the app will now collect precise location information.
Although this alarmed some users, this type of intrusive data collection is common on social media apps. Snap, Instagram, X, for example, all collect similar user location data.
