Well, that’s about as clear as mud.

Now, I’m no stranger to censorship. I’ve had my videos taken down before. But there was usually some type of specific reason cited – albeit a flimsy excuse. Not this time. They didn’t even offer a clue. What makes it all the more puzzling to me is the fact that ALL of the information shared in the now-removed video was already all over TikTok. The content in the clips was even taken directly from other TikTok videos. So why is MY account hit with this bogus violation?

HERE’S THE ACTUAL VIDEO IN QUESTION:

Ladies and gentlemen, this is part of the ongoing problem with many of these social media platforms. There are things I really like about TikTok in particular, like they actually do seem to allow fairly open dialog regarding otherwise polarizing and controversial topics – but they only do so if and when you play by their rules and when you avoid certain buzz words. That’s the part that’s frustrating to me.

What do I mean, buzz words? For example, you can’t say the word vaccine, but you might substitute the words poke or jab. Instead of saying someone was killed, you have to say something like “someone was unalived.” Or to get around the nonsense rules on certain topics altogether, you have to preface your video with a phrase like, “This is all satire,” or “This is for entertainment purposes only.” Stupid, right? I just don’t care anything about playing their silly games.

I have submitted the video for further review and reconsideration, but I’m not holding my breath. The means for disputing violations is as vague and nonspecific as the violation notice itself. If I don’t know what triggered the censors, how can I “fix” it? Do I even care at this point?

Refuse to be Silenced

The way videos on TikTok are distributed, there’s opportunity for a LOT more views on that particular platform. However, given its censorship issues, I don’t anticipate ever playing well with it. My go-to continues to be Rumble.

I have NEVER had ANY violations or removals on Rumble.com. Free speech is still alive and well there, thank God. And as long as I own my own website, I am free to post anything I want here. Links to this site are sharable on multiple platforms, so I always have unfettered options when these s0-called “community standard violations” unfairly discriminate against me.

UPDATE:

After about a 4-day reviewal process, TikTok notified me that they had restored the video. However, all they really did was made it visible to me again. It was obviously shadow banned because it never received any views at all afterwards. Figures.