Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
TikTok explodes with complaints of anti-ICE censorship
When people say this is starting to feel coordinated, they’re not being dramatic. They’re paying attention.
After Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal immigration personnel in Minneapolis over the weekend, naturally people turned to social media to air their grievances. I mean, it’s the second time this month an American citizen has died during a federal immigration operation in that city. Some folks took specifically to TikTok to talk about what happened, and many say their posts suddenly went quiet.
Not just a few people either. TikTok users across the country reported that videos mentioning the shooting, ICE or federal enforcement stalled, showed zero views or were labeled “ineligible for recommendation.” Singer Billie Eilish even posted on Instagram, “Tiktok is silencing people btw,” after her brother’s video about Pretti’s death reached a fraction of his usual audience.
In that video, he said: “You’ve spent 30 years straight telling us that children have to die so that we’re allowed to legally carry weapons everywhere in the United States. This guy was being beaten to a pulp on the ground. He didn’t draw his weapon.”
That video had about 42,000 views; most of his others easily clear 10 times that. That’s just one example, but go on X and you’ll see a variety of people with tens of thousands of followers noting their ICE-related videos got little to no reach compared to their usual audience.
TikTok says this wasn’t censorship. The company points to outages at a U.S. data center and says it’s been working to restore service. Mmmhmm…
After Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal immigration personnel in Minneapolis over the weekend, naturally people turned to social media to air their grievances. I mean, it’s the second time this month an American citizen has died during a federal immigration operation in that city. Some folks took specifically to TikTok to talk about what happened, and many say their posts suddenly went quiet.
Not just a few people either. TikTok users across the country reported that videos mentioning the shooting, ICE or federal enforcement stalled, showed zero views or were labeled “ineligible for recommendation.” Singer Billie Eilish even posted on Instagram, “Tiktok is silencing people btw,” after her brother’s video about Pretti’s death reached a fraction of his usual audience.
In that video, he said: “You’ve spent 30 years straight telling us that children have to die so that we’re allowed to legally carry weapons everywhere in the United States. This guy was being beaten to a pulp on the ground. He didn’t draw his weapon.”
That video had about 42,000 views; most of his others easily clear 10 times that. That’s just one example, but go on X and you’ll see a variety of people with tens of thousands of followers noting their ICE-related videos got little to no reach compared to their usual audience.
TikTok says this wasn’t censorship. The company points to outages at a U.S. data center and says it’s been working to restore service. Mmmhmm…
https://thehill.com/opinion/lindseys-lens/5708656-tiktok-silencing-ice-videos/