Comment by Aurornis
7 hours ago
TikTok is different in China, but the rest of the world isn’t getting a completely free TikTok.
TikTok is known for tipping the scales on political keywords everywhere. In the past they haven’t outright censored because that’s too obvious, but uploading videos on the wrong side (according to TikTok, of course) of a political topic will result in very few views.
I wouldn’t be surprised if as part of the transition they’re struggling with the previous methods of simply burying topics, so the obvious ban was their intermediate step.
The comments claiming this is specific to the US are simply wrong. TikTok has always done this everywhere.
> TikTok is known for tipping the scales on political keywords everywhere.
All social media does this. Even HN (through its users flagging articles). This article will be flagged by users and removed from the front page very soon, just as a similar one[1] was already.
1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46777652
> All social media does this. Even HN (through its users flagging articles).
I don't consider user-directed upvotes/downvotes/flags to be in the same category as company or state decided censorship.
The observed effect is the same: A relatively small number of people decide, based on political leanings, what is on-topic and off-topic, on behalf of the rest of the users.