California’s Newsom launches TikTok probe, accusing app of suppressing Trump criticism

California Governor Gavin Newsom accused TikTok ‍on Monday of suppressing content critical of US President Donald Trump as he launched a review to decide if its content moderation practices violated state law, while the platform cited a systems failure.Newsom’s statement came after TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, last week finalised a deal to ⁠set up a majority US-owned joint venture that will secure US data, to avert a ban on the short video app used by more than 200 million Americans.ByteDance said TikTok USDS Joint Venture would secure US user data, apps and algorithms through data privacy and cybersecurity measures, in a deal praised by 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,” Newsom’s office said ‍on social media, without elaborating.“Gavin Newsom is launching a review of this conduct and is calling on the California-department-of-justice" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="19526" data-entity-type="organization">California Department of Justice to determine whether it violates California law,” it ‌added.California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks to the press on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos on January 20. Photo: TNSIn response, a TikTok representative pointed to a prior statement that blamed a data centre power outage, adding: “It would be inaccurate ‍to report that this is anything but the technical issues we’ve transparently confirmed.”