{"id":545679,"date":"2026-01-27T01:05:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/545679\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T01:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:05:17","slug":"tiktok-data-center-outage-triggers-trust-crisis-for-new-us-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/545679\/","title":{"rendered":"TikTok Data Center Outage Triggers Trust Crisis for New US Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"

TikTok is currently experiencing a widespread service outage in the US, causing disruptions for millions of users only a few days after the company officially transferred control of its American business to a group of majority-US investors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The technical issues led many TikTok users to speculate about whether the app\u2019s new owners were intentionally suppressing videos about political topics, particularly content related to recent federal immigration operations<\/a> in Minnesota. TikTok has denied the allegations, attributing the problems to a power outage.<\/p>\n

TikTok users began reporting on Sunday that they were having trouble uploading videos to the app as well as viewing content that had already been posted on the platform. Others said that while they could upload videos, they were receiving far fewer views and engagement than usual.<\/p>\n

According to Downdetector<\/a>, which tracks real-time service disruptions, a surge of users began reporting outages on TikTok starting early yesterday morning in the US. \u201cOur data suggests that services are not yet fully restored for all users,\u201d reads an alert Downdetector shared on Monday.<\/p>\n

Steve Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University\u2019s School of Law, said in a Bluesky post<\/a> that he had \u201crecorded a video on TikTok about why DHS\u2019s arguments for the power to enter homes without judicial warrants in immigration cases are bunk. Nine hours later, TikTok still says my video is \u2018under review,\u2019 and can\u2019t be shared.\u201d<\/p>\n

The technical glitches have also attracted the attention of US senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. \u201cI know it’s hard to track all the threats to democracy out there right now, but this is at the top of the list,\u201d Murphy wrote in a Bluesky post<\/a>. When reached for comment, Deni Kemper, a spokesperson for Murphy, told WIRED that his office did not \u201chave anything to share beyond the senator\u2019s tweet.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a post from a new X account created by the app\u2019s US-controlled entity, TikTok said the service disruption was caused by \u201ca power outage at a US data center.\u201d A TikTok spokesperson confirmed the account\u2019s authenticity to WIRED.<\/p>\n

When asked about user claims that content was being censored on the platform, the spokesperson said it would be inaccurate to describe the problem as anything other than a technical issue that the company has publicly confirmed on X.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson added that new TikTok posts may temporarily take longer to publish and be circulated by the app\u2019s recommendation algorithm. TikTok says it\u2019s working with its data center partner to restore service as quickly as possible, but there\u2019s currently no estimate for when the app will be fully functional again.<\/p>\n

Oracle, which owns 15 percent of TikTok’s new US entity, has hosted the app\u2019s US user data since 2022. The company declined to comment on the outage. It\u2019s unclear if it may be related to a powerful winter storm<\/a> sweeping across large parts of the US, which has knocked out electricity for hundreds of thousands of Americans.<\/p>\n

TikTok completed transferring ownership of its US operations last week. On Thursday, the company announced<\/a> that it has established TikTok USDS Joint Venture, a corporate entity intended to bring the app into compliance with a 2024 law requiring TikTok to divest from its Chinese ownership. The law was upheld by the US Supreme Court, but its enforcement was repeatedly postponed<\/a> by the Trump administration until last week.<\/p>\n

In the announcement, TikTok said that TikTok USDS Joint Venture would \u201cretrain, test, and update the content recommendation algorithm on US user data.\u201d The news has caused many American TikTok users to worry that the app\u2019s new owners could manipulate the algorithm to prioritize certain kinds of content over others.<\/p>\n