Reform to lodge complaint against TikTok after Widdecombe ‘cut off’

Ann Widdecombe speaks during the Reform UK rally in Birmingham on Sunday - Hollie Adams/Reuters

Reform UK has said it will lodge a complaint against TikTok after the video-sharing app shut down a livestream of its campaign rally in Birmingham on Sunday.

Richard Tice, the Reform president, accused the platform of an “outrageous, biased attack” on the party and claimed it was “in hoc to ridiculous wokery” after the stream was suspended during a speech by campaigner Ann Widdecombe.

He speculated that the decision to cut the feed was down to Ms Widdecombe saying that “there are only two genders”. Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, joked about the incident in his own speech later on.

TikTok confirmed the stream was suspended but put it down to a moderation error, saying access was restored within 30 minutes.

Ms Widdecome, a former Tory minister, said she had “absolutely no idea” why the feed was shut down, adding: “I was pronouncing party policy and not saying anything that Nigel or Richard haven’t said before.”

Isabel Oakeshott, the political commentator, claimed the content had been branded “hate speech” by the platform. She tweeted: “Breaking: TikTok suspend @‌reformparty_uk rally live steam [sic] while Ann Widdecombe speaking, declaring it ‘hate speech’?! Widders? WTF?!”

Ms Widdecome, a former Tory minister, said she had 'absolutely no idea' why the TikTok feed was shut down - JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP

Mr Tice told The Telegraph: “This is an outrageous, biased attack on a major political party because we pointed out that there are only two genders.

“Evidently, TikTok is in hoc to ridiculous wokery. They lost out as more than 300,000 people watched the livestream across multiple other platforms – quite astonishing numbers for a political party rally.”

The interruption came during Reform’s rally in front of 5,000 supporters in Birmingham on Sunday. Paul Oakden, the party’s chief executive, spoke first, followed by Ms Widdecome, Zia Yusuf, one of its biggest financial backers, Mr Tice and Mr Farage.

Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Farage claimed that footage of a Reform canvasser using a racial slur against Rishi Sunak had been used in a “smear campaign” against the party.

The party’s leader said: “Look, Reform is a new organisation. It’s a start-up and there were requests put out for candidates to stand.

“Have we had a few bad apples? We have, although to my knowledge nobody involved in an organised betting ring is standing for us, which is something. I have to say, the bad apples are gone. We’ll never have them back.”

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