TikTok Faces Outages and Censorship Claims After U.S. Ownership Change
Power outage triggered 663,061 outage reports and caused zero-view counts and upload timeouts as TikTok USDS works to restore U.S. services.
Rolling StoneTikTok Raises U.S. Censorship Fears After Messages About Jeffrey Epstein Are Blocked
Associated PressTikTok faces app deletions, censorship claims and glitches in days after its ownership change
TechCrunchTikTok says it's still working to recover its US infrastructure
NBC NewsTikTok blames power outage for widespread glitches that many users say are censorship
Overview
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC said it experienced a "major infrastructure issue" after a power outage at a U.S. data center partner site, producing 663,061 outage reports and causing zero-view counts and upload timeouts, officials said.
The disruptions coincided with the formal creation of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, records show, in which ByteDance holds less than 20% and Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX each hold 15%, raising new U.S. security and moderation concerns.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on X that he is launching a review into whether TikTok is violating state law by censoring Trump-critical content, and TikTok spokesperson Jamie Favazza said the problems are technical issues the company has transparently confirmed.
Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower said daily average app uninstalls rose 130% from Jan. 22 to Jan. 26 compared with the prior 30 days while daily average users increased 2%, suggesting the deletions had limited impact on overall engagement.
TikTok USDS said it is investigating why some direct messages mentioning "Epstein" were temporarily flagged and that it has made significant progress restoring U.S. infrastructure but that users may still encounter glitches while the company completes recovery, officials said.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources emphasize skepticism about TikTok’s outage explanation by highlighting its 'unfortunately timed' occurrence alongside the U.S. deal and civil unrest, quoting user doubts, and pointing out the unnamed data-center partner while noting a winter storm—collective editorial choices that nudge readers toward suspicion over a purely technical cause.
FAQ
A power outage at a U.S. data center partner site triggered a major infrastructure issue, leading to 663,061 outage reports, zero-view counts, and upload timeouts.
ByteDance holds less than 20% (19.9%), while Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX each hold 15%, with other U.S. and allied investors owning the majority.
To investigate whether TikTok is violating state law by censoring content critical of Trump.
Some direct messages mentioning 'Epstein' were temporarily flagged, and the company is investigating.
Daily average app uninstalls rose 130% from Jan. 22 to Jan. 26 compared to the prior 30 days, while daily average users increased 2%.
