Did TikTok block #BlackLivesMatter & #GeorgeFloyd Tag?

TikTok has been accused of blocking “#BlackLivesMatter tag and every single tag related to George Floyd,” in a tweet that went viral.

The tweet showed a screenshot of a user’s attempt to add hashtags to a TikTok only to find that #BlackLivesMatter and #GeorgeFloyd appeared to have no videos.

Reacting to this claim, TikTok disclosed that the problems have been identified as a, “pre-upload issue,” according to a TikTok spokesperson, adding that, “the hashtags and videos themselves were not affected.”

When users tried to upload videos and add #BlackLivesMatter or #GeorgeFloyd hashtags, the tags’ view count appeared as zero, despite the scale of the conversations surrounding police brutality and racism taking place on the platform.

TikTok Support says this glitch affects a range of non-political tags, as well, such as #cat and #hello. These tags are still all searchable and the video-count for each does appear to be accurate when you search them on TikTok or click through from a video. However, they don’t load when you’re in the midst of uploading and tagging content.

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