'It's time to investigate': California Gov. Gavin Newsom slams alleged suppression of anti-Trump TikTok content

Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times on Jan 27, 2026

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LOS ANGELES — California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he is investigating reports that TikTok is suppressing anti-Trump content days after the platform averted a nationwide ban by finalizing a U.S. ownership deal backed by Donald Trump.

"Following TikTok's sale to a Trump-aligned business group, our office has received reports — and independently confirmed instances — of suppressed content critical of President Trump," the governor's press office said in a Monday evening statement on X.

The announcement comes after a flurry of online complaints that videos criticizing Trump, such as those condemning ICE actions in Minnesota or speaking out against the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents, are either getting zero views or far lower view counts than normal.

The new U.S.-based company TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC has not publicly responded to the allegations of censorship. However, the company said in a Monday statement that it was grappling with a power outage at a U.S. data center that was causing a "cascading systems failure."

Among the issues the platform advised creators to look out for were zero views or likes on videos, slower load times and timed-out requests. Thousands of user issues were being reported throughout the day Monday, according to outage tracker Downdetector.

Newsom's press office said the governor was calling on the California Department of Justice to review whether the application violates state law by censoring content that is unfavorable to Trump. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"It's time to investigate," Newsom wrote on X while reposting a screenshot showing a TikTok user being prevented from sending a message saying "epstein." The screenshot says, "This message may be in violation of our Community Guidelines, and has not been sent to protect our community."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson told the Washington Post that the White House "is not involved in, nor has it made requests related to, TikTok's content moderation."

Internet personality Preston Stewart, who makes informational videos about war and national security topics, said that two videos he posted Monday simply disappeared while another video received zero views despite him having 1.3 million followers.

"I've seen folks suggest this is targeted but from what I'm seeing it's across platform affecting everyone," Stewart wrote on X.

Nonetheless, frustration continued to spread online among creators, celebrities and elected officials who did feel like the view suppression was deliberate.

State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) stated that TikTok is "now state controlled media" in a Monday morning statement on X. He shared a screenshot showing that a video he posted about his legislative proposal to allow people to sue ICE agents received zero views compared to thousands of views on his regular content.

"TikTok is dead. Killed by the regime & the corrupt kleptocrats suckling at its teat," he wrote in a Monday evening X post, reposting another screenshot, this time showing extremely low view counts on CNN's recently shared videos.

TikTok finalized a deal Thursday to spin off its U.S. operations into a new majority-American joint venture with investors including Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. The $14-billion deal puts Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle and a longtime Trump supporter and donor, in a powerful position over the app's operations in America.