TikTok is blaming Black Lives Matter hashtag blocking on a system error
Amid protests revolving around the death of George Floyd, TikTok is being accused of censoring posts from users writing the hashtags #BlackLivesMatter and #GeorgeFloyd.
A user noticed he was unable to see posts using those hashtags while uploading a video and the social media site has responded and corrected the error.
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According to TheWrap, a TikTok spokesperson responded to them explaining that view counts for both hashtags have been fixed. Video creators can once again see the viewer count while uploading posts.
The issue was apparently happening before content was uploaded but posts using those hashtags were still making their way onto the site.
Further, the company says the issue wasn’t actually affecting just this topic but affected multiple random tags as well. “This appears to affect words at random, including terms like #cat and #hello,” TikTok said to TheWrap in a statement.
“We have identified and resolved an issue that had widely affected the view count displayed on hashtags in the upload stage,” TikTok continued in their statement. “This bug had temporarily affected view count displays on hashtags at random in the Compose screen only; it did not affect tags, videos, or discovery of uploaded content. We apologize for the confusion this caused for our community.”
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The company has also posted a message about the issue on their Twitter accounts and responded to the original user who noticed the issue.
Earlier today we found & fixed an issue that widely affected the view count displayed on hashtags in the upload stage. This bug temporarily affected view count displays on hashtags in the Compose screen only; it did not affect hashtags, videos, or discovery of uploaded content.
— TikTokSupport (@TikTokSupport) May 29, 2020
While this technical issue affected a wide range of terms, we recognize that it unfortunately came at a painful time for the Black community in particular. We deeply value the diverse voices on TikTok, and we apologize for the confusion and pain this situation caused.
— TikTokSupport (@TikTokSupport) May 29, 2020
We are aware of an issue that is impacting the hashtag view counts displayed at the upload stage. This appears to affect words at random, including terms like #cat and #hello. Our team is investigating and working quickly to address the issue.
— TikTokSupport (@TikTokSupport) May 29, 2020
What do you think of TikTok’s response to these hashtags being removed temporarily? Let us know in the comments below.