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TikTok apologises for temporary removal of video on Muslims in China

  • The user, who identifies herself as Feroza Aziz, said she had been blocked from posting on TikTok for a month

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Popular short video app TikTok is not available in China, but owner ByteDance has a domestic version called Douyin. Photo: Reuters

Short video app TikTok apologised to a user on Thursday for removing a video that criticised China’s treatment of Muslims, blaming a “human moderation error” and saying the images had been restored within less than an hour.

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The controversy over the video, viewed 1.6 million times, comes as TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, faces an inquiry by a US national security panel over its handling of personal data, while American lawmakers fear it may be censoring politically sensitive content.

In the video she posted last week, the user, who identifies herself as Feroza Aziz, gave a tutorial on eyelash curling, while talking about how Muslims were being treated, and saying she wanted to spread awareness of the situation.

But on Twitter this week she said she had been blocked from posting on TikTok for a month, and on Wednesday posted that her viral video had been taken down, only to be restored later.

The video was offline for 50 minutes, TikTok said on its website.

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