Comedian and actor Megan Stalter, known for her role in Hacks, has deleted her TikTok account after publicly accusing the platform of censoring her posts that criticise the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The controversy unfolds as TikTok grapples with a major technical outage that the company attributes to a power failure at a US data centre.
Stalter's Allegations of Censorship on TikTok
In a recent Instagram post, Stalter announced her decision to leave TikTok, stating she would download her videos and abandon the app. She claimed it is under "new ownership and we are being completely censored and monitored." Stalter elaborated that she was "unable to upload anything about ICE even after I tried to trick the page by making it look like a comedy video." She encouraged her followers to "delete the app" in a message signed off with "love you."
Stalter is not alone in voicing concerns about content suppression related to ICE. Musician Billie Eilish reposted a video on Instagram originally shared by her brother Finneas on TikTok, with the caption: "TikTok is silencing people btw." Finneas's video, which criticised US gun policies, reportedly showed zero viewers initially, though it later garnered 1.4 million views, with users noting glitches in the display.
TikTok's Response: Power Outage Blamed for System Failures
TikTok has responded to the technical issues, citing a power outage at a US data centre as the cause. In a statement posted to its X account, the TikTok USDS Joint Venture explained: "Since yesterday we’ve been working to restore our services following a power outage at a US data centre impacting TikTok and other apps we operate." The company added that it is "working with our data center partner to stabilise our service" and apologised for the disruption.
An update provided on Wednesday detailed that the outage "caused a cascading systems failure that we've been working to resolve together with our data centre partner." Users have been warned they might experience "multiple bugs, slower load times, or timed-out requests, including when posting new content." Additionally, creators may temporarily see "‘0’ views or likes on videos, and your earnings may look like they're missing," though TikTok assured that "your actual data and engagement are safe" as this is a display error from server timeouts.
Background: ICE Protests and Platform Uncertainty
The allegations of censorship come amid widespread protests against ICE across the United States, following the fatal shootings of two individuals in Minneapolis this month. On 7 January, federal immigration agents shot and killed Renée Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, while she was in her car. Another incident on 24 January resulted in the death of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, after a confrontation between agents and civilians escalated. The Donald Trump administration has claimed the agents acted in self-defence, a stance disputed by protesters who cite video evidence.
This situation occurs against a backdrop of recent changes for TikTok. Last week, TikTok owner ByteDance finalised a majority American-owned joint deal to continue operating in the US, which includes "defined safeguards that protect national security." This agreement ends years of uncertainty over the platform's future in the country, previously fuelled by US officials' claims that the algorithm could be manipulated by Chinese authorities, though no evidence has been presented to support such attempts.
The Independent has reached out to representatives for both Stalter and TikTok for further comment on these developments.
