California Governor Gavin Newsom has accused TikTok of suppressing content critical of President Donald Trump, launching a review to determine whether the platform’s moderation practices violate California law. Newsom’s office said it had received and independently confirmed reports that posts criticizing Trump were being limited following recent structural changes at TikTok.
The allegations emerged shortly after TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, finalized a deal to create a majority U.S.-owned joint venture designed to secure American user data and avoid a nationwide ban. The arrangement, which was praised by Trump, places U.S. and global investors in control of more than 80% of the venture, with ByteDance retaining a minority stake.
TikTok rejected the accusations, saying the issues stemmed from a technical failure caused by a data center power outage that led to broader system disruptions. The company said the outage resulted in bugs, slower performance and delayed posting for some users, and denied any intentional suppression of political content.
The dispute adds to long-standing political tensions surrounding TikTok in the United States, where the app has faced years of scrutiny over national security, data privacy and influence concerns. Newsom, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, have frequently clashed, underscoring the political sensitivity of the platform’s role in public discourse.