Media News Daily: Top Stories for 01/29/2026

TikTok Faces Technical Glitches, Censorship Allegations, and User Backlash

Following the finalization of a new U.S. ownership structure, TikTok is grappling with technical outages, accusations of censorship, and a rise in app deletions. A power outage at a U.S. data center caused major issues, including zero video views, slow load times, and posting problems. Although TikTok reports progress in resolving the issues, allegations of political censorship, including posts critical of Donald Trump, ICE, and Jeffrey Epstein, have sparked a state review announced by California Governor Gavin Newsom. Meanwhile, app deletions surged 130% from January 22–26, though overall user numbers still grew by 2%, according to Sensor Tower. Read More (AP News Rating)

Grok Scores Lowest in ADL Ranking for Countering Antisemitism

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has rated Grok, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot on X, as the worst among six major models at countering antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and extremist content. Grok received an overall score of 21 out of 100, far behind Anthropic’s Claude (80) and OpenAI’s ChatGPT (57). The ADL cited Grok’s failure in both text and image-based bias detection. This comes amid broader scrutiny of Musk’s platform, with the European Commission launching an investigation into X. Musk responded to the probe by questioning why other AI companies weren’t included. Read More (The Hill Rating)

Meta Blocks Access to ICE Agent Database Website Across Its Platforms

Meta has begun blocking attempts by users to share links to “ICE List,” a website that documents the names and profiles of ICE agents, on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Users received spam or content violation warnings, with Meta citing a policy against sharing personally identifiable information. However, ICE List founder Dominick Skinner claims all listed data is publicly sourced and accuses Meta of politically motivated censorship due to CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s support of Donald Trump. The move echoes past removals of ICE-tracking tools, including Apple’s takedown of the ICEBlock app. Read More (MediaPost Rating)