Censorship concerns are back in the spotlight after TikTok users claim to be having trouble posting about Jeffrey Epstein and ICE raids.

Days after the company finalized a sale to a consortium of American investors who now control TikTok's business in the US - which averted a national ban of the app over national security concerns - users report being unable to use the word "Epstein" in direct messages. 

The company responded, telling NPR "We don't have rules against sharing the name 'Epstein' in direct messages and are investigating why some users are experiencing issues."

TikTok said none of its content moderation rules have changed.

Still, when some users tried to send direct messages containing the word "Epstein," an automatic prompt appeared declaring that the message may be in violation of TikTok's community guidelines. The messages were not sent, according to the prompt, "to protect our community."

Tests by NPR, and other accounts on social media, show that it was happening inconsistently; Some users were able to send messages with "Epstein," and some were not. The TikTok spokesman said that is consistent with the company's own analysis so far, yet the exact cause is still under review.

TikTok users are also claiming that the platform is censoring information related to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement actions, as many users on the platform report being unable to upload videos on the topic. 

Some are pointing a finger at TikTok's new ownership - which includes lead investor Oracle, run by billionaire Larry Ellison, a close friend of President Trump. Users are now circulating the hashtag #TikTokCensorship on X. 

It's nice to see Democrats suddenly discovering free speech.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) says this is at the 'top of the list' when it comes to threats to democracy. We don't remember him piping up when conservatives were being censored for a decade...

TikTok said in a statement that 'glitches' on the app were due to a power outage at a US data center, causing videos to take longer to be uploaded and recommended to other users, and are "unrelated to last week's news" of the finalized sale. 

Oracle, meanwhile, blamed the winter storm that has affected large swaths of central and eastern US, saying in a statement that an Oracle data center "experienced a temporary weather-related power outage," triggering wide-spread "technical issues" for users of TikTok, said spox Michael Egbert, who added that the companies are working "quickly" to restore service and stabilize the app. 

On Tuesday, TikTok US Joint Venture said it had made "significant progress" in restoring service to US users, but noted that many might still have trouble uploading new videos.