TikTok has restricted one tool researchers use to analyze popular videos. The move follows a barrage of criticism directed at the social media platform about content related to the Israel-Hamas war.

Among others, the social media company, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, has removed certain hashtags from the Creative Center that some online researchers had stored for analysis. They include topics that would be seen as controversial to the Chinese government – such as “UyghurGenocide” and “TiananmenSquare”- as well as hashtags about U.S. politics and the war in Gaza and Ukraine.