TikTok apologizes for suspending user’s account after she criticized China’s treatment of Muslims

• Her account was banned from TikTok after she shared a video with a hidden message on Muslims in China.
• TikTok apologized for banning her account and restored it.

Social media video app TikTok has publicly apologized to its user for suspending her account for using her videos to criticize China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims.

In a video, which she posted last week, Feroza Aziz, a United States citizen, gave a tutorial on eyelash curling while talking about how Muslims were being treated.

"So, the first thing you need to do is grab your lash curler, curl your lashes, obviously. Then you’re going to put the eyelash curler down and use your phone to search up what’s happening in China, how they’re getting concentration camps, throwing innocent Muslims in there, separating families from each other, kidnapping them, murdering them, raping them, forcing them to eat pork, forcing them to drink, forcing them to convert," she said.

GUYS NO JOKE THIS TUTORIAL HELPED ME SO MUCH PLEASE WATCH IT pic.twitter.com/BuITSebOu6

— saltys backup (@soIardan) November 24, 2019

Soon after her video, which got than 1.5 million views, the TikToker said that her account has been 'temporarily suspended due to multiple violations of 'Community Guidelines' by TikTok.

"This is proof that China is using TikTok to not let the truth be set free. China is scared," the teenager wrote.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the social media app apologized to the user for the error on its part. "In addition, we are reaching out to the user directly to inform her that we've decided to override the device ban in this case. Our moderation approach of banning devices associated with a banned account is designed to protect against the spread of coordinated malicious behavior – and it's clear that this was not the intent here," the statement read.

UPDATE: tik tok has issued a public apology and gave me my account back. Do I believe they took it away because of a unrelated satirical video that was deleted on a previous deleted account of mine? Right after I finished posting a 3 part video about the Uyghurs? No. pic.twitter.com/ehUpSJiyy1

— feroza.x (@x_feroza) November 27, 2019

TikTok further said that Feroza can again access her active account from the device she was using previously.

In an interview to BBC, the teenager said that she will continue to raise awareness on issues that need to be talked about. She said she will talk about Kashmir, Afghanistan and even Columbia on Twitter, Instagram or 'any platform she has, even TikTok'.