TikTok cites technical glitch as California probes alleged Trump-critical censorship
Governor Gavin Newsom launches state review after reports of blocked posts, as TikTok blames a data-centre outage days after its US deal
Newsom said on Monday via social media that he was launching a review into whether TikTok violated state law, citing another user’s post showing that a message reading “epstein” was blocked by the platform.
“It’s time to investigate,” Newsom wrote.
Trump has denied involvement in a widening scandal centred around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, involved in the trafficking and abuse of underage girls.
The governor’s press office wrote in a separate post on Monday that TikTok had “suppressed” content critical of Trump following its sale to a “Trump-aligned business group”. The office said that Newsom, a Democrat, is reviewing this conduct and called for the California Department of Justice to determine whether it violated California law.
Newsom accuses Trump of suppressing dissent