After the murder of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti by ICE in Minneapolis (January 25), comedian and actress Megan Stalter took to Instagram to call for the abolition of the federal law enforcement agency. “Our government is killing people, and they are lying to us. The God that I worship is extremely angry about what is going on. We can not stop talking about this. We have to abolish ICE.” After posting the video on Instagram, the actress found she could not upload the same video to TikTok or any content about ICE, for that matter. Stalter is not the only celebrity who realised this: streamer and left-wing political commentator Hasan Piker and musician Finneas also noticed that their most recent videos about ICE were censored on the platform. It was also reported that the Democrats’ TikTok profile was being shadow-banned.

Several TikTok users in the US also noticed that TikTok now censors the word ‘Epstein’, in relation to human trafficker, child sex offender and rapist Jeffrey Epstein. In a statement released today, TikTok denied blocking the word and is investigating why some users are unable to send it in direct messages. Celebrities and activists are encouraging people to delete their TikTok accounts, but what is going on with the video platform, and what is Upscroll, the new social media app they’re joining? 

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH TIKTOK?

Last week (January 23), a majority-American-owned joint venture known as TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC took control of TikTok’s assets in the US. The deal was shepherded by the Trump administration and allows TikTok to continue operating in the US. American tech firm Oracle, led by Trump allies and anti-Palestine billionaires Larry Ellison and Safra Catz, now oversee TikTok’s US user data and the platform’s recommendation algorithm.

Last April, Sarah Jeong wrote for The Verge that “Palestine was the problem with TikTok,” as young people used the platform to speak out and learn about the genocide in Gaza. Now, Ellison and Catz, who both openly support Israel and its military, essentially run the social media platform, leading many to believe that commentary around ICE, Palestine, and anti-Trump content is being purposely censored.

HOW HAS TIKTOK RESPONDED?

Along with accusations of censorship, users have reported that the video-sharing app has been extremely slow and malfunctioning since the US deal was finalised last week. TikTok’s US owner released a statement on Monday 26, asserting that the app is “experiencing a major infrastructure issue triggered by a power outage at one of our US data centre partner sites”. They have also said that if users notice that their content has “0 views or likes… this is a display error caused by a server timeout; your actual data and engagement are safe.”

WHAT IS UPSCROLL?

Even with the release of their statement, the public’s trust in TikTok is waning, leading to what appears to be a mass exodus from the app to the social media platform UpScrolled. Launched by Palestinian, Jordanian and Australian technologist Issam Hijazi last June, UpScrolled resembles Instagram with its chronological feed of images and videos. On its website, the app is described as “a social media platform designed to empower users worldwide – a space to freely express thoughts, share moments and content with others.” The app now rivals TikTok, ranking above it at no. 9 on the Apple App Store yesterday (January 28).

WHAT OTHER APPS CAN I JOIN THAT AREN’T RUN BY EVIL BILLIONAIRES?

It’s important to remain wary of all social media platforms, even those with apparently good intentions. At the end of the day, many of us are addicted to our phones and are being manipulated more than we’d like to admit by what we’re seeing on these platforms. When we realise that a platform has deep systemic problems, the answer is not always to migrate to another app.

But as Hatti Rex highlighted in her piece on social media platforms that are actually social, there are pockets of community still thriving on the internet that billionaires don’t own, including Are.na, Cosmos, Perfectly Imperfect, and more.