Instagram users searching for the terms “Democrat” or “Democrats” have been getting an error message.

In a story that has raised eyebrows in light of the newly sparked bromance between Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump, Meta is claiming that the “results hidden” message popping up is a technical problem.

Instagram, which will soon see sweeping changes to its moderation, claims that the problem is also affecting some Republican hashtags and promises there is no political maneuvering at play.

What Are Users Seeing?

BBC News reports that the error comes up when users directly search for “Democrats” or “Democrat.” These searches result in an error screen that says: “We’ve hidden these results. Results for the term you searched for may contain sensitive content.”

However, there are also limited results being reported when users search for “Republicans” but not “Republican.” But a search using the hashtag “Republican” returns 3.3 million posts while, at one point, users were reporting that the hashtags “#Democrat” or “#Democrats” returned no results at all.

Issued Resolved but Questions Remain

Meta was quick to bat away accusations of partisanship and told the BBC in a statement:

“We’re aware of an error affecting hashtags across the political spectrum and we are working quickly to resolve it.” – Meta spokesperson

It could be an innocent technical error but comes at a time when Meta is fundamentally changing its approach to politicized speech across all of its platforms. This also includes changing its Community Guidelines, and the flagging of certain search terms.

Entrepreneurs and Government

This technical issue also comes at a time when Mark Zuckerberg has gone from banning Donald Trump from his platforms to visiting him at Mar-O-Lago, donating $1 million to his inauguration fund and being at the president’s inauguration ceremony.

He was there alongside Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Google boss Sundar Pichai.

There has been a fundamental shift in Zuckerberg’s attitude to the now president and this technical glitch has hit the headlines because of this.

The controversy around Elon Musk’s “salute” on Donald Trump’s inauguration day is reaching fever-pitch in the news and social media, but on Reddit, it has resulted in calls for the platform to cut ties with X.

Redditors are reportedly advocating a ban on X links appearing in Reddit posts after two arm gestures that Musk made at one of the inauguration events have been compared to a Nazi salute.

The spotlight is now very much on Musk (isn’t it always), who is a staunch and very vocal advocate of Donald Trump’s but has also been given a role in Government heading up a government efficiency commission, nicknamed DOGE.

Clashing Views

As reported by Newsweek, the movement to ban X links on Reddit is gathering pace and it’s pretty heated. Groups are even arguing that the collective stance on this issue reflects their wider views of far right politics.

In one group, for the Valorant eSports community, a Redditor commented: “Throwing a n*zi salute is NOT a valid expression of a political opinion. NO ONE should condone the fascist nzi ideology, regardless of their political affiliation. This is NOT just “politics“, we as a sports/e-sports community have to take our stance against fascism.”

The moderator in this group is suggesting screenshots instead of links for X content. But in other groups, this suggestion has been met with accusations of censorship and undermining free speech. In one group called “Change my view”, the discussion has got pretty heated.

A Redditor called Marco Tropoja wrote: “This is absolutely censorship, no matter how it’s framed. Reddit is supposed to be about discussions—whether you agree with the content or not. Banning links from x.com just because you don’t like Elon Musk or his politics undermines the platform’s purpose as a space for open dialogue.”

Musk Quick To Dismiss Claims

Musk himself has been quick to take to X to dismiss the allegations, writing: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”

But detractors and supporters have been quick to get involved. Rome-based Andrea Stroppa, who is one of Musk’s fervent supporters and advisors, posted the clip of Musk gesturing on X with the caption: “Roman Empire is back starting from Roman salute.” The Roman salute was widely used by Benito Mussolini and his fascist party in Italy during the Second World War. She has since deleted it.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor at New York University, wrote on X: “”Historian of fascism here. It was a Nazi salute and a very belligerent one too.” Others have said it was just Musk being excited; and hundreds of images of leaders from both parties holding similar arm positions have been published.

Others have been more circumspect. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said on X: “This is a delicate moment. It’s a new day and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety. It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge. In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.”

However, Musk’s support of the German AfD party and the anti-immigration Reform party in the UK are undeniable and definitely giving credence to the view that this was a political statement; not the wild arm gestures of an excited man.

Wider Questions Over Social Media Moderation

However, whatever you feel about Musk, the debate feeds into a wider question on what moderation should look like; and whether there is a place for it at all. Like so many politicized issues, it is highly divisive.

Meta has caused consternation in some camps with its decision to get rid of third-party moderation in the US across its platforms. The move is already turning into a war of words with EU authorities; and Mark Zuckerberg has pre-emptively appealed to Donald Trump to protect his company from potential EU fines that could result from the moderation shake-up.

Musk was brutal in slicing all of his moderation staff right in the earliest days after his takeover of X. And Donald Trump is someone who has actually been banned (ironically by Zuckerberg and Musk’s predecessor) on several social media platforms.

The debate continues on Reddit and we can be sure that this isn’t the last time that Musk will do something controversial (this week perhaps?) but the question over how it should be handled is going to be debated for a long time.

Another contender has joined the starting line as the race starts to buy TikTok and save it from closure.

The latest person to take their mark is YouTube star and one of the world’s highest earning creators, MrBeast.

According to reports, MrBeast has teamed up with tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley, who is the founder of the online HR company employer.com. They are taking on rival bids from a team including Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank fame and there are also rumors that Trump’s new best friend, Elon Musk, might throw his hat in too.

All-Cash Bid for TikTok

The Guardian is reporting that MrBeast – whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson – has made a formal bid for the Chinese-owned social media platform. He has partnered with Tinsley and they have offered an all-cash bid.

The confirmation came from US law firm, Paul Hastings, which says that alongside 26-year old Donaldson and Tinsley are a group of “institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals” although they are not named. The statement is short and sweet, and doesn’t detail how much the bid is nor any time frames.

Interestingly, adds the newspaper, the lead lawyer on the bid is Brad Bondi, who is the brother of Trump’s choice as US attorney general, Pam Bondi.

Donaldson had flagged his interest earlier this month, writing on X: “I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned.” He later added on TikTok that he had started talks with a “bunch of billionaires”.

Clock Is Ticking for TikTok Ban

There is a pressing sense of urgency to the situation. TikTok went dark the day before Trump’s inauguration, only to be reinstated with a 75-day extension by the now president. But he hasn’t completely reversed the ban (which he was actually instrumental in) and so TikTok must find a buyer.

As to the price, Trump mentioned the figure of $1tn at a press conference with a 50% US ownership and a “permit” to operate in the country. He also nodded to Musk’s interest while adding that the multibillionaire founder of Oracle, Larry Ellison, might also make a bid. Ellison, who was actually at the press conference, reportedly said that it sounded like “a good deal”.

While it is looking likely that a buyer will be found, who that will be and how the platform will then operate is a guess. After all, none of the concerns about national security have disappeared and the scrutiny will no doubt continue in the 75-day period.

Uncertainty Still Reigns for TikTok

In the meanwhile, some of TikTok’s 170 million US users have started looking at alternatives, including, ironically, another Chinese social media app called RedNote. Reuters is reporting that Apple and Google have not reinstated TikTok in their app stores as yet, so rivals definitely have an opportunity to jump in and they’re using it.

But is Trump’s suspension of the ban even legal? And is there steering going on behind closed doors as to who the new owner will be? Plenty of questions to be answered and not a huge amount of time for answers.

Poor TikTok has not only faced a nail-biting teeter at the edge of survival this week, but is also contending with a Chinese rival actively recruiting its influencers.

Now, another rival, Meta’s Instagram, is also reported to be trying to court TikTok influencers over to its platform, with thousands of dollars promised if they will post to Reels.

The alleged deal would see influencers pocket the cash from Meta if they post to Reels first but then are able to publish elsewhere. Meta, though, would get the exclusive.

Capitalizing on the Chaos

According to a report from The Information, Instagram is actively approaching creators and offering them “bonuses” valued at between $10,000 to $50,000 per month.

The Meta execs are obviously hoping this will give the platform a boost of exclusive content from some of TikTok’s biggest names, and attract TikTokers to follow them to Instagram.

TikTok users are actively looking for alternatives as the surge of interest in Shanghai-based social media app, RedNote, has shown and so it’s understandable that Instagram would want to capitalize on the chaos around TikTok’s future as well.

Waiting in the Wings

Instagram’s Reels, launched in 2020, was designed specifically to compete with TikTok. A recent (and not universally loved) decision to switch from square to rectangular profile grids is a measure of exactly how much emulation there is.

The two platforms have always fought a close battle, with Business Insider reporting last June that increased engagement with Reels was directly correlated with decreased usage of TikTok.

The report quotes a Morgan Stanley survey of 2,000 US consumers, which revealed that more than a third of Instagram users use Reels daily, and 78% engage with it monthly. But specifically, it revealed that 26% of reels users are not using TikTok at all, which is an increase on the previous year’s percentage.

The Meta team may be suggesting that TikTok’s popularity is waning but its incoming changes to moderation (and TikTok’s possible reprieve) might yet change the rankings.

Have Reels Bonuses Worked Before?

The Verge suggests that bonus-led schemes to get creators on board have had mixed results for Instagram in the past. The company launched a bonus program in 2021, but it was short-lived with creators complaining about decreasing payments. There is a bonus program on the Instagram site at the moment.

Meta also ran an invite-only bonus program for Threads last spring, but Engadget wrote that, despite the dollars coming in, many were totally baffled by the algorithm.

With the fight for TikTok refugees ongoing, despite the 75-day window, this is one bonus program that Meta needs to work and really catch the big-hitting influencers’ attention. However, it also needs to be good enough to keep them from returning to TikTok or looking elsewhere.

TikTok may now have a 75-day reprieve thanks to President Trump, but when its ban was looming, rival RedNote is reported to have recruited influencers to raise its profile with US users.

The Chinese social media platform enjoyed a boom in interest stateside as TikTokers prepared for their beloved app going dark.

But reports suggest that the company hasn’t just sat back and waited for people to find it. Instead, it actively recruited US-based influencers to bolster its profile by working with a New York-based marketing agency.

Paid Posts

Wired has published an article giving details of a campaign brief it has had eyes on. Created by marketing agency Solare Global, the brief was sent to select TikTok influencers and laid out how they could talk about “how fun and engaging the app [RedNote] is” and “emphasize its user-friendly design and international appeal.”

In the days leading up to the ban, there were reports of just this with influencers making videos about how to set up RedNote accounts and gushing about its “cuteness.”

There are no details on which influencers it was sent to and whether or not they were paid per post (and if so, how much).

Wired adds that it contacted both Xiaohongshu, which is the Chinese name for RedNote, and Solare Global for comment but neither have responded.

RedNote’s Rise

As the TikTok ban approached, users were furiously searching for alternatives and RedNote appealed because of its similarity to its rival; but also because it also shares features with Instagram and even Pinterest.

Just a week ago, the Shanghai-based app surged to the top spot in Apple’s app store listings for free apps in the US. Wired reports that the company has furiously recruited English-speaking moderators as Americans joined and started posting.

However, RedNote has to adhere to the content moderation (or censorship) policies set for it by the Chinese government so this will be problematic with a surge of content coming from outside of China. TikTok, in contrast, is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance, but is not available in China.

TikTok’s Revival

However, in the next few weeks, we will see whether RedNote’s popularity continues to rise as TikTok comes back from the cusp. It has been given a 75-day lifeline, with Trump determined to find a resolution to ensure the social media platform’s survival. He hasn’t reversed the ban altogether, though.

Options on the table include the US operations being sold to a team of entrepreneurs, including Shark Tank host, Kevin O’Leary. There are even rumors that Elon Musk is eyeing up the platform.

What the ByteDance execs now have is a little time; but there is still uncertainty and RedNote has shown that it’s only too happy to capitalize on that.

Meta says that it is not going to shelve third-party fact-checking outside of the US, seeming to give weight to the rumors that the move in America was very much a political one.

Mark Zuckerberg himself laid out the sweeping changes to moderation, claiming that the Community Notes program that would be put in place instead would “empower the community”. He also pointed to X as an example of how this model works, which raised a few wry eyebrows.

However, the Meta chief followed the news just days later with a plea to the then soon-to-be president, Donald Trump – to protect US companies from EU fines, pre-empting a negative response to the moderation move outside of the US.

No Change for Meta Moderation Outside US…Yet

In an interview with Bloomberg, Meta’s head of global business Nicola Mendelsohn suggested that the company is going to keep the present status-quo but didn’t rule out changes in the future.

She said: “We’ll see how that goes as we move it out over the year. So nothing changing in the rest of the world at the moment, we are still working with those fact checkers around the world.”

In the US, Meta has called for users to sign up to its moderation program (Facebook, Instagram, Threads) and roll-out will start in the next couple of months.

What Will Users See in the US?

The changes that will kick off in the US were laid out by Meta’s newly-appointed chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan in a statement that was published alongside Zuckerberg’s video.

Kaplan said that Meta will “stop demoting fact-checked content.” He added too that a “much less obtrusive label indicating that there is additional information for those who want to see it” will replace “full screen interstitial warnings.”

Kaplan added that the company will be “getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender”.

Why Could There Be Issues for Meta in the EU?

The changes have already caused concern. Former Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who is co-chair of Meta’s independent oversight board, told the BBC that she was worried that there could be a spike in hate speech, especially towards people in the LGBTQ+ communities. “We are seeing many instances where hate speech can lead to real-life harm, so we will be watching that space very carefully,” she said.

However, she will not be alone in scrutinizing the content. A pre-emptive war of words has already kicked off between Zuckerberg and EU authorities. In an interview with Joe Rogan, the Meta CEO rallied against the EU fines his company has had to pay in antitrust rulings. He said: “I think it’s a strategic advantage for the US that we have a lot of the strongest companies in the world, and I think it should be part of the US strategy going forward to defend that.”

As reported by Reuters, Zuckerberg went as far as the say that EU rules were choking innovation. “Europe has an ever increasing number of laws institutionalizing censorship and making it difficult to build anything innovative there,” he said. But the European Commission hit straight back and said: “We absolutely refute any claims of censorship.” It also said that it did not prescribe any specific form of moderation for social media platforms but “…whatever model a platform chooses needs to be effective.”

So while Zuckerberg might now have the favor of the US president and approval for his hands-off model, other countries have a very different view of what moderation should look like.

It may not be a complete reversal of the TikTok ban, but users of the social media platform in the US have been granted an extra 75 days of use while the incoming president considers its future in the country.

On his first day back in the White House, Donald Trump passed an executive order to temporarily halt the ban to allow him to “negotiate a resolution to avoid an abrupt shutdown of the TikTok platform”.

That gives the US government until Saturday 5th April to explore ways with TikTok owner Bytedance and Chinese officials in which the service can be saved in the US.

“TikTok is Back”

Trump promised during is reelection campaign that voting for him would mean a stop to the TikTok ban.

And while the long awaited TikTok ban came into effect on Sunday, its estimated 170 million US users didn’t have to wait for long before normal service was restored – the blackout lasted roughly 12 hours, with a notification from the platform telling its users that: “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”

The reprieve was then made formal on Monday in an executive order formally titled ‘The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act’.

National Security Considerations

In the text of the order, Trump took a swipe at outgoing president Joe Biden, saying: “The unfortunate timing of [the ban] — one day before I took office as the 47th President of the United States — interferes with my ability to assess the national security and foreign policy implications of the Act’s prohibitions before they take effect.”

Trump stopped short from reversing the ban altogether and the clock has begun ticking again on the app’s future, giving the government until early April to consider the “national security concerns” posed by TikTok and to “review sensitive intelligence related to those concerns and evaluate the sufficiency of mitigation measures TikTok has taken to date”.

“I am instructing the Attorney General not to take any action to enforce the Act for a period of 75 days from today to allow my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown of a communications platform used by millions of Americans.” – Donald Trump’s executive order

However, the 75 days is likely to be seen more as a negotiating window, with the @TeamTrump handle on the president’s own Truth Social platform saying: “President Trump signs an Executive Order to keep TikTok alive so that a deal can be reached”

CEOs Out in Force for the President

In addition to the deadline extension itself, the executive order also instructs the Department of Justice that no action is to be taken against any parties that had not complied with the ban during its brief enactment.

That means any service providers who may have continued to allow TikTok’s use on Sunday – inadvertently or otherwise – will avoid punishment.

This and a raft of other executive orders were passed shortly after Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday 20th January, with big tech CEOs in attendance such as Elon Musk (X, SpaceX, Tesla), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Tim Cook (Apple), Sundar Pichai (Google) and Sam Altman (OpenAI) as well as TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chou.

Since launching in the US market eight years ago, TikTok has been used by millions of Americans to connect with like-minded people, keep up with trends, and escape stress with some light-hearted comic relief.

However, after a long-standing tug-of-war between US politicians and TikTok parent company ByteDance over the app’s shady data collection practices, TikTok is on track to getting banned this week – unless the legislation is overturned or delayed by Congress in the eleventh hour.

Not ready to give up your Sunday night doom scroll? Rest assured, there are ways you can evade the looming ban with a little preparation. We outline how exactly this can be done in simple steps, so you can keep scrolling to your heart’s content if the ban does come into effect.

When Is TikTok Getting Banned In The US?

After a long back-and-forth between US legislators and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, TikTok is on track to get banned in the US on Sunday, January 19. This is unless the Supreme Court accepts a last-minute legal bid from ByteDance, claiming that the action would be unconstitutional.

If the ban takes place this weekend, users aren’t legally obliged to stop using the app, nor will it magically vanish from smartphones. However, with rumors circulating that the Byte-Dance-owned company will make the app unavailable to US users the day the ban goes into effect, we recommend taking precautionary measures while you still can.

How To Access TikTok After The Ban

Not ready to say goodbye to your favorite app? Follow the steps below to side-step TikTok’s looming ban:

1. Keep the app downloaded

If the ban goes ahead on January 19, the TikTok app will no longer be available to download from US app stores. Existing users will still be able to use TikTok if it’s already on their smartphones, though.

So, if you want to carry on using TikTok after its potential ban date, all you need to do is keep the app on your phone. However, you should be aware that as the app won’t be receiving regular updates, it will likely become less secure and more buggy over time.

2. Choose a VPN

To access TikTok after the ban, you’ll also need to use a VPN. VPNs are privacy tools that conceal a user’s Internet Protocol (IP) address. Not only does this obfuscation make it harder for cybercriminals to access user data, but it also allows users to bypass geo-restrictions and access content from anywhere in the world.

Lots of free VPNs don’t offer strong security protocols, however, and in some cases can actually leave devices more vulnerable to exploits like malware and DDoS attacks. To stay on the safe side, we recommend using a trusted provider like SurfShark, as it offers in-built security mechanisms and the fastest server speeds of any VPN we tested.

Pure VPN is another option that can help you avoid lag when scrolling through TikTok, or accessing other streaming services due to its fast response times. Check out our guide to the best VPN providers for iPhone for a detailed comparison of our favorite tools.

3. Open the VPN and select a location where TikTok isn’t blocked

Once you’ve downloaded and opened your chosen VPN, simply change your geo-location to a country where TikTok isn’t banned. Your choice will be pretty extensive as only a handful of countries have banned the app outright, including India, Jordan, Afghanistan, and Nepal.

You should bear in mind that using a VPN with TikTok will change what content you see on the app. So we’d suggest only choosing an English-speaking country, like the UK or Canada if you speak English as a first language. If you’re under 16, we’d recommend against using Australian geo-locations, however, due to the country’s age restrictions.

4. Open VPN and scroll TikTok

Once you’ve completed the steps above, you’ll be free to use TikTok as usual.

If, for any reason, you have to delete the short-form video app, it is also possible to download it again by changing the location of the App Store or Google Play to outside of the US. Doing so will also lift update restrictions on TikTok, so it’s worth taking this extra step if you don’t want your experience on the app to deteriorate in the future.

What Are The Best TikTok Alternatives?

TikTok’s unique algorithm is expert in knowing what content to recommend, but if you aren’t interested in using a VPN, or you’ve been considering moving on from the app anyway, other alternatives exist.

Our top recommendation is YouTube Shorts, as the functionality is already built into the YouTube platform, making it easily accessible, and in many cases, preventing users from having to download a separate app. YouTube Shorts takes your viewing history into account as well, helping provide you with more tailored short-form content.

Instagram Reels is another popular alternative, with a similar interface and algorithm to TikTok, and much of the same short-form content. There are lots of emerging lesser-known platforms too, so check out our full guide to the best TikTok alternatives for our full round-up.

US Duolingo users have started learning Mandarin en masse, as the date for the US ban of the popular social video platform TikTok has neared.

Why has the ban of a global app led to a massive interest in learning a new language? Mostly because of the viral trend for replacing TikTok with another app: Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote.

RedNote’s surging success doesn’t mean that the app’s US popularity will last much longer than the current news cycle, however. It takes a long time for a new social media platform to reach anywhere near the heights that TikTok earned for itself.

Duolingo Weighs in on the Latest Social Platform Kerfuffle

Duolingo’s status as the most well-known US language teaching app makes it a great yardstick for our nation’s shifting cultural interests.

Now, a new post from Duolingo highlights the sharp uptick in US TikTok users in figuring out Mandarin, the biggest branch of East Asian languages and the one language with the most native speakers worldwide.

According to the post, new Mandarin learners have jumped up by about 216% year-over-year.

Learning Mandarin out of spite? You’re not alone.

We’ve seen a ~216% growth in new Chinese (Mandarin) learners in the US compared to this time last year. https://t.co/9hzwBxfTgD pic.twitter.com/qWM9f5oFYA

— Duolingo (@duolingo) January 15, 2025

How many users will actually stick with the language, however, is a tougher question to answer. As anyone who’s tried Duolingo can tell you, keeping a streak going is a challenge.

The RedNote Hype Cycle Has Kicked Off

Part of the reason why RedNote is such a hit: The enjoyable irony behind a second, far more Chinese app gaining attention from Americans right after the US government has gotten rid of the previous one, whack-a-mole style.

Still, there’s one benefit: The whole ordeal has definitely boosted awareness in the US of the variety of government censorship concerns that often bubble under the news-coverage surface for both China and the United States.

Red Note is doing what they feared Tik Tok would. pic.twitter.com/FhhBRR4HWl

— Jessica (Ka) Burbank (@JessicaLBurbank) January 16, 2025

The conversation has surfaced plenty of xenophobia as well, both from those who think China is inherently evil and those who opt for a “benevolent xenophobia” and decide that China must be inherently good.

Can RedNote Go the Distance?

Although the Chinese app has been positioned as a TikTok-style platform — it even made our list of potential TikTok alternatives — some informed reports are calling it more of a cross between Instagram and Pinterest.

Whatever the case, it’s not clear that the rapid rise of this app can be sustained. Competitors like Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts are well-established, and are backed by tech giants Meta and Google, respectively. Meanwhile, RedNote is designed for Chinese users first, making it a tough sell.

Consider the success story of another primary-color-themed social media upstart: Bluesky has been growing steadily since gaining prominence way back in 2023, and despite the continual struggles of its main competitor, it still has a long way to go. In contrast, RedNote’s US presence is still a blip on the radar.