TikTok attributes the recent glitches to a power outage at a US data center

As snowstorms hit the United States on Sunday, TikTok users reported widespread issues with the app, such as problems loading comments or unexpected behavior from the For You page’s algorithm. For some users, problems persist.

The timing of these outages aligns with the long-awaited creation of a separate US entity for TikTok last week, which the US government ordered over concerns about the Chinese government’s potential access to user data via the app’s former parent company, ByteDance. (Now, ByteDance owns less than 20% of the new TikTok USDS joint venture, while management investors Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX own 15% each.)

However, the TikTok USDS joint venture stated in a post on X that these issues were due to a power outage at a US data center.

The company said: “Since yesterday, we have been working to restore our services after a power outage in a US data center that affected TikTok and other applications we manage.” “We are working with our data center partner to stabilize our service. We regret this disruption and hope it is resolved soon.”

According to user-reported data from Downdetector, the outage is affecting users across the country.

TikTok’s reason for the errors makes sense, given that more than a million people in the US were affected by power outages after the massive storm. But some users are skeptical given how quickly outages occurred after the US joint venture was officially established.

The power outages also overlap with ongoing protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where thousands of ICE agents have been deployed since early January in what ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons described as the “largest immigration operation ever.”

On Saturday, Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Peretti, the second ICE killing of a civilian in Minneapolis this month.

In the wake of the murder, some TikTok users said they had trouble searching the app for information about the events that occurred in Minneapolis. Then app crashes led to panic about possible government censorship. However, TikTok attributes these issues to a simultaneous data center outage.

People also expressed concern over the weekend about TikTok’s updated privacy policy, which includes language that allows TikTok to collect data about users, including “their sex life or sexual orientation, their transgender or non-binary status, or citizenship or immigration status.” However, as TechCrunch reported, some of these disclosures are not new and appeared in TikTok’s privacy policy before the ownership deal closed, primarily to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act.

While recent TikTok outages and privacy policy changes seem like run-of-the-mill problems with bad timing, Americans have reason to be wary about social media monitoring — especially in times of political turmoil.