On Jan. 22, ByteDance sold TikTok’s U.S. operations to Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, placing the app under predominantly American control. Since then, users have reported algorithm issues and apparent censorship of topics including ICE and the Epstein files.
ByteDance was ordered to sell the U.S version of TikTok to prevent the app from being banned following an executive order from President Trump in Sept. 2025. News of the sale made many users fear that the beloved app would face serious censorship.
“I understood that the censorship was gonna happen. A lot of monitoring as well, but a lot of the citizenship status was what really scared me,” said Andrew Gutierrez, a freshman mechanical engineering major.
“It is a concern for me, because if an app for social media is getting censored, it makes me wonder, is our news being censored? Is our schoolwork being censored? Like, what are we not seeing that maybe people outside of America are seeing?” said freshman exploratory major Emma Morgan.
Students have expressed concerns that the reported censorship is tied to issues with the federal government.
“It concerns me because I feel like we are in a place where our government is really shaky and rocky right now, especially with all the racism going on,” said Morgan.
As media consumption trends change, TikTok has slowly become a source for news and entertainment with younger generations.
Students have noticed that current events are appearing less and less on the For You Page (FYP), and they say this is due to a significant increase in national interest in ICE protests and the release of the Epstein files.
“Now it really seems like my video count on all this like congressional stuff (Epstein file congressional hearing) has really gone down,” sophomore biology major Julien Marquez said.
“It’s kind of disappointing because I was really interested in all this stuff, and now it’s not going on my feed.”
Reports of censorship have pushed many off the app for good. Several users are now migrating to alternatives like Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts, though students have cited issues with those platforms as well.
“I am an ‘Instagram Reels Demon.’ I love Instagram Reels, but I have noticed that there is slight censorship,” said Gutierrez.
Some students have claimed that the changes to TikTok have decreased their daily screen time and encouraged them to be more active.
“I don’t doomscroll anymore. It’s pushed me to be touching grass. TikTok, it just doesn’t seem worthwhile,” said Leah Meng, a sophomore biology and chemistry major.
Despite the overwhelming number of reports, TikTok has denied any censorship, claiming changes to the FYP were due to technical issues.
