Late pop star’s girlfriend hits out after bizarre social media ban in heated online rant

Kate Cassidy, 26, has hit out after she was banned from social media platform TikTok.

Cassidy was the girlfriend of One Direction singer Liam Payne at the time of his tragic death in 2024.

The American model expressed her frustration in a video rant after she suggested she was banned from the app for talking about her rhinoplasty and wearing outfits that displayed her cleavage.

Watch the video above.
Liam Payne and Kate CassidyKate Cassidy was the girlfriend of One Direction singer Liam Payne. (Instagram/ @kateecass)
“I literally feel like TikTok, I’m walking on egg shells with this app 24/7,” Cassidy vented to her 1.8 million followers following the shadow ban.

This is a method used by social media companies to moderate and restrict a user’s content visibility without letting the content creator know any action has been taken.

“Do you see the angle I am filming from, by the way?” Cassidy continued in the video.
One Direction singer Liam Payne's girlfriend Kate Cassidy hits back at social media ban.Cassidy was outraged after her content had been shadow banned from TikTok. (TikTok / Instagram @Kateecass)
“I am cutting off pretty much anything below my chest because TikTok always likes to shadow ban me … because I happen to have, you know, bigger … I can’t even say the word.

“I guarantee this video is going to get shadow banned because I am wearing nose tape.

“What the f–k is wrong with you guys?”

Cassidy complained she was unable to curse, wear bikinis or wear nose tap for her rhinoplasty in any videos she posted.

“I just filmed a whole literally like a 30-minute video talking about the cons of not doing research when getting a nose job, because two years later I am getting tape on my nose.”

Cassidy, who works as an influencer, said she would have to stop speaking and acting freely to avoid her videos being restricted on the app.
Liam Payne and Kate CassidyPayne and Cassidy were together from October 2022 up until his death in October 2024. (Instagram/@kateecass)
She asked TikTok to “be a bit more chill”.

Cassidy began dating Payne in October 2022 when they were first spotted at a Halloween party together. They remained a couple until the time of the singer’s death.

Payne died in October 2024 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.