Celebs Accuse TikTok of Limiting ICE Criticism, TikTok Finally Responds
Meg Stalter, best known for her role on the HBO series Hacks, has deleted her TikTok account after accusing the platform of blocking videos that criticize U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The comedian said she could no longer post content about ICE and believed the issue was tied to recent changes in who controls the app.
Stalter shared her decision on Instagram, telling followers she felt TikTok was no longer a safe place to speak freely. She said the app was “under new ownership” and claimed users were being “completely censored and monitored.”
According to her, posts mentioning ICE would not upload at all. She said this continued even when she tried to hide the message inside what looked like a comedy video. At the time, Stalter had more than 278,000 followers on TikTok.
TikTok rejected claims of censorship and said the problem had nothing to do with politics. The company explained that a power outage at a U.S. data center disrupted posting across TikTok and other apps it operates.
In a statement shared on its new X account, the TikTok USDS Joint Venture said, “Since yesterday we’ve been working to restore our services following a power outage at a U.S. data center impacting TikTok and other apps we operate.” The company added that it was working to fix the issue and apologized for the disruption. Searches for “ICE” on the app still bring up critical content.
Since yesterday we’ve been working to restore our services following a power outage at a U.S. data center impacting TikTok and other apps we operate. We're working with our data center partner to stabilize our service. We're sorry for this disruption and hope to resolve it soon.
— TikTok USDS Joint Venture (@tiktokusdsjv) January 26, 2026
The controversy comes shortly after TikTok’s ownership structure changed in the United States. Last week, ByteDance finalized a deal to create TikTok U.S., a new joint venture designed to meet the requirements of the U.S. divest-or-ban law. The law blocks apps that are more than 20 percent owned by a foreign adversary. TikTok U.S. is now mostly owned by American investors, including Silver Lake, Oracle, and Abu Dhabi–based investment firm MGX.
The backlash around ICE has grown following deadly incidents in Minneapolis. Federal agents recently shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, during protests connected to the earlier death of Renee Good. Both were U.S. citizens. The Department of Homeland Security has said the shootings were acts of self-defense. These events have fueled anger online and at public events.
This situation raises serious questions about trust, free speech, and transparency on major platforms. Even if the outage explanation is true, the timing has left many users uneasy.
When people already feel unheard, technical problems can quickly look like something more. What do you think is really going on here? Do you believe TikTok’s explanation, or do you think creators are being limited? Share your thoughts in the comments.