TikTok suppressed content critical of Trump, exclusive report alleges

EXCLUSIVE: As the Trump administration works to support TikTok legally disposable successful the United States, the wildly fashionable app has suppressed contented captious of President Donald Trump, according to a caller study shared exclusively with Fox News.

TikTok maintains the study has reached a mendacious conclusion, and that the researchers utilized presumption subjected to further information measures due to the fact that they’ve been associated with predetermination misinformation oregon profanity.

The report, from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) astatine Rutgers University, contained findings that "highlight TikTok's quality to enactment arsenic a almighty power tool, adaptable to partisan politics, but with nary inherent inducement for transparency oregon accountability."

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"What you're seeing is not sweeping policies astir contented moderation that tin beryllium conflict tested by the nationalist oregon by researchers," said Adam Sohn, an NCRI committee member. "TikTok seems to beryllium conscionable benignant of picking and choosing their policies based connected governmental expediency, and that's a large concern."

President-elect Trump is pictured successful beforehand of the TikTok logo. (Getty Images)

NCRI said it analyzed TikTok, X, and Instagram "to measure their handling of circumstantial hashtags associated with the 2020 predetermination controversy" and that researchers received a effect that "explicitly indicated contented suppression based connected TikTok’s enforcement of its assemblage standards."

The radical said presumption specified arsenic "#RiggedElection," "#VoterFraud," "#StopTheSteal," and "#StolenElection" returned nary results on TikTok successful the U.S. Researchers said that erstwhile they searched utilizing bundle that swapped their home determination for 1 overseas, those presumption produced video results.

Screen grabs provided by NCRI amusement a Jan. 24 TikTok hunt for "#F***JoeBiden" that returned 37,000 results. A hunt the aforesaid time for "#F***Trump" returned none. Three days later, Fox News replicated the hunt and determination were videos listed nether both. 

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"The interest is that the Chinese Communist Party and Bytedance and TikTok itself tin consistently tweak its algorithm to screen up its tracks," Sohn said.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies earlier the House Energy and Commerce Committee successful the Rayburn House Office Building connected Capitol Hill connected March 23, 2023 successful Washington, DC. The proceeding was a uncommon accidental for lawmakers to question the person of the short-form societal media video app astir the company's narration with its Chinese owner, ByteDance, and however they grip users' delicate idiosyncratic data. Some local, state, and national authorities agencies person been banning the usage of TikTok by employees, citing concerns astir nationalist security. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

"Our policies and algorithms haven't changed successful the past week," said a TikTok spokesperson.

The institution maintains hashtags regarding the 2020 predetermination controversies person promoted predetermination misinformation, which is wherefore they’ve been unavailable. TikTok contends that due to the fact that the anti-Trump and anti-Biden hunt presumption incorporate profanity, the app tin bounds those results. The institution besides says it’s experiencing method issues arsenic it’s trying to instrumentality its work to normal.

Last year, Congress passed a bipartisan instrumentality that would prohibition TikTok if its Chinese genitor company, ByteDance, failed to merchantability the app by Jan. 19. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law. ByteDance inactive owns TikTok, but Trump signed an enforcement bid delaying the ban’s enforcement for 75 days portion his medication tries to negociate an statement for the app to comply with the instrumentality and support it operating successful the U.S. 

NCRI has issued respective reports connected TikTok, concluding its hunt algorithm produced results to conception a favorable presumption of China’s government. TikTok has denied that allegation, calling NCRI’s enactment "flawed" and "clearly engineered to scope a false, predetermined conclusion." In its arguments against TikTok, the Justice Department nether the Biden medication cited NCRI’s reports.

A screenshot of an update successful the TikTok app connected Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (Fox News Digital)

Cybersecurity experts told Fox that algorithms for apps similar TikTok are held intimately by their genitor companies and tin beryllium hard to evaluate.

"Doing benignant of this assemblage absorption of these immense societal media platforms, particularly TikTok, which is truthful popular, is simply a Herculean task," said Theresa Payton, a cybersecurity adept and the White House Chief Information Officer successful the George W. Bush administration. "It could beryllium that arsenic they were making tweaks to grip capacity, to beryllium capable to much intimately measure things that could beryllium perceived arsenic predetermination interference, things that are considered hatred speech."

Others enactment societal media companies person sizable teams moving with automated bundle to mean contented connected their platforms.

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"Someone interprets thing arsenic successful presumption of a usurpation [that] whitethorn not lucifer with idiosyncratic other – it each benignant of has to adhd up to a pattern," said Pete Pachal, the Founder of The Media Copilot, a newsletter connected AI changing media and journalism. "In the report, they bash a precise bully occupation of showing that this signifier of expected repression … contented not appearing successful searches does thin to hap much successful 1 direction, and that should arouse a definite magnitude of suspicion."