TikTok blames ‘random’ bug after users complain they couldn’t use hashtags related to George Floyd’s death

TikTok said Friday that an unintended bug caused view counts of hashtags on the platform’s “upload stage” to disappear, including some tags in reference to the Black Lives Matter movement and others associated with the police-involved death of George Floyd.

A user first pointed out the error on Twitter, accusing TikTok of blocking hashtags such as #blacklivesmatter or other tags related to Floyd and the protests erupting in Minneapolis and cities across the nation.

TikTok Support responded to the allegation on social media, saying that the company was aware of the error and that the glitch was affecting words at random, including words like #cat and #hello.

“We are aware of an issue that is impacting the hashtag view counts displayed at the upload stage. … Our team is investigating and working quickly to address the issue,” the company said on Twitter.

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

A spokesperson for TikTok reiterated to The Hill that the platform was not restricting certain hashtags or videos related to Floyd’s death or the Black Lives Matter movement.

Several uploads using such tags have garnered hundreds of thousands of views on the video app.

As of Friday evening, TikTok’s hashtag view counts were visible for hashtags such as #blacklivesmatter and #georgefloyd.