Some 170 million TikTokkers received a pop-up message telling them that if they wanted to continue with the service, they had to agree to new terms of service and privacy policy under new US majority ownership.

Users almost immediately sensed a difference in the online environment. There were news reports that the social media platform may be censoring political speech and sensitive content.

According to CNBC, “Against the backdrop of a tense political environment in the US, a growing number of viral complaints about TikTok have accused the platform of censoring certain political positions and even the word ‘Epstein’ within direct messaging. CNBC confirmed that messages containing the word ‘Epstein’ triggered an error message, but was unable to independently verify broader claims of political censorship.”

CNN and BBC reported that TikTok users could not upload videos about brutality committed by ICE agents, a federal paramilitary force carrying out anti-immigrant operations, especially in Minnesota. TikTok America blamed technical glitches. Yeah, sure, whatever.

Perhaps no one should be surprised. The forced sale of the hugely popular platform was never about censorship, surveillance or disinformation potentially spread under Chinese ownership. It’s always been about the ability of the political and media establishment in the US to do all that out of reach of the Chinese.