Communist Chinese government-tied TikTok censored videos of women exposing the health risks of hormonal contraceptives after apparently receiving pressure from a leftist legacy media outlet.
The Washington Post released a now-infamous report attempting to discredit women speaking out about many of the well-known side effects listed on the blanket-sized warning label that comes with oral contraceptives. In its report, The Post highlighted the fact that TikTok had censored some of the people it had reached out to for the piece, including The Daily Wire commentator Brett Cooper who hosts The Comments Section and TikTok influencer Nicole Bendayan. The newspaper took credit for the part it played in the removal of multiple videos.
The Post identified one censored video as being a clip from Cooper’s May 2023 appearance on the Iced Coffee Hour podcast. In the censored video, Cooper highlighted contraception’s worrying impact on weight gain, fertility, regular hormone function and romantic attraction. The Post itself reported on the Pill users’ increased risk for cervical cancer in 1977, something it neglected to remind users of in its more recent reporting on the issue.
The clip of Cooper garnered 219,000 likes “before TikTok removed it following The Post’s inquiry,” The Post reported. Links to the TikTok video now bring up the message, “Video currently unavailable” or “This page isn’t available.” The app does not provide any further explanation.
Cooper posted on X (formerly Twitter) on March 24, “What’s ironic is that [The Post] reached out to me for a comment, and they asked WHY my video was removed and no longer available. Shocker... was because of them.” She included a screenshot of The Post’s admission about the censorship following a Post inquiry.
The Post bragged that TikTok removed five videos critical of contraception after the leftist legacy outlet demanded to know how the app “prevents the spread of misinformation.” A TikTok spokesperson claimed to the Post that the videos had “inaccurate, misleading or false content that may cause significant harm to individuals or society.” TikTok did not respond to a request for comment from MRC Free Speech America at the time of publication.
Another individual that TikTok censored was Nicole Bendayan, whose video explaining why she got off contraception went viral until censorship silenced it, according to The Post.
TikTok has a track record of anti-American bias and censorship and is currently in danger of being banned due to congressional legislation. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) owns a board seat and maintains a financial stake in TikTok’s parent company ByteDance.
Censorship occurring after leftist media outlets or researchers put pressure on Big Tech appears to be a rising trend, something addressed in a recent "60 Minutes" segment.
The Post’s whole piece aggressively defended contraception, bewailed the fact that some women are turning away from it, and blamed “right-wing” so-called “misinformation” for that. “Search for ‘birth control’ on TikTok or Instagram and a cascade of misleading videos vilifying hormonal contraception appear,” The Post bemoaned. “Young women blaming their weight gain on the pill. Right-wing commentators claiming that some birth control can lead to infertility. Testimonials complaining of depression and anxiety.”
Such evidence used to be mainstream. In fact, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) documents substantial evidence of serious side effects from taking hormonal “birth control”, including some of the very effects The Post scoffs at. The study published on NIH also listed serious potential long-term side effects from contraception including cancer, multiple sclerosis, weight gain and suicidal desires.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact TikTok via email at communitymanager@tiktok.com and demand Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
