---
title: "TikTok Bans 17-Year-Old for Criticizing China"
description: "After a TikTok video criticizing China's systematic anti-Muslim discrimination went viral, its creator found herself locked out of her account."
date: "2019-11-29"
modified: "2019-12-02"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tiktok-bans-criticizing-china"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "censorship"
  - "china"
  - "the digest"
  - "tiktok"
---

# TikTok Bans 17-Year-Old for Criticizing China

![After a TikTok video criticizing China's systematic anti-Muslim discrimination went viral, its creator found herself locked out of her account.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/tiktok-bans-criticizing-china.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Feroza Aziz/TikTok/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Delete This

After 17-year-old Feroza Aziz posted a video on TikTok that criticized [China's state-sanctioned discrimination](<https://futurism.com/americans-developed-tech-china-reeducation-camps>) against its Muslim Uighur population, she found herself locked out of her account.

While the Beijing-based TikTok [told *CNBC*](<https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/26/tiktok-says-it-doesnt-censor-but-a-user-who-criticized-china-was-locked-out.html>) that it doesn't censor China-critical content, [clear signs of censorship](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/tiktok-censor-app-china-tiananmen>) come back [again and again](<https://futurism.com/china-hong-kong-censoring-protests-tiktok>) when a user gets too much attention for pointing out bad things about China.

## Gray Area

China has been [scrubbing TikTok](<https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/25/revealed-how-tiktok-censors-videos-that-do-not-please-beijing>) of any videos supporting or covering the Hong Kong protests, likely to try and quell both local and global awareness of the movement.

In this case, [Aziz's video](<https://twitter.com/drewharwell/status/1199457135974866946?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2019%2F11%2F26%2Ftiktok-says-it-doesnt-censor-but-a-user-who-criticized-china-was-locked-out.html>) remains online, a fact that TikTok representatives cited to push back against accusations of political censorship and silencing.

But technicalities and splitting hairs between what constitutes censorship versus silencing distracts from the point: Aziz went viral for sending out a negative message about China, and now she can't post on a social media platform with Chinese roots.

**READ MORE:** [TikTok says it doesn’t censor content, but a user was just locked out after a viral post criticizing China](<https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/26/tiktok-says-it-doesnt-censor-but-a-user-who-criticized-china-was-locked-out.html>) \[*CNBC*\]

**More on censorship:** *[China Appears to Be Censoring Hong Kong Protests From TikTok](<https://futurism.com/china-hong-kong-censoring-protests-tiktok>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)