Power Outage at U.S. Data Center Triggers Platform Failure A loss of electricity at a U.S. data‑center partner caused a cascading systems collapse that crippled TikTok’s timelines, feed algorithms, and creator dashboards, prompting nearly 6,000 user‑reported incidents and over 663,000 glitch reports on Downdetector [2][3][4]. Users experienced slow loads, bugs, and temporary “zero views” or “zero likes” display errors, though underlying engagement data remained intact [2][4]. TikTok confirmed the network has largely recovered but continues to monitor residual issues while working with the data‑center partner [2][3].

Joint Venture Takes Control Amid Massive User Backlash On January 22, ByteDance completed the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to a majority‑American joint venture that includes Oracle, Silver Lake and Larry Ellison, giving the new owners decision‑making authority over trust‑and‑safety policies and “Project Texas” data storage [1][4]. Experts note a rapid erosion of user trust, with SensorTower reporting a ≈150 % surge in app uninstallations within five days of the takeover [1]. The ownership shift coincides with heightened scrutiny of misinformation and content‑review bottlenecks [1].

Creators Report ICE‑Related Upload Failures After Transition Comedian Megan Stalter and nurse‑author Jen Hamilton publicly described repeated upload blocks for videos criticizing ICE, claiming the platform deleted or stalled their content after the joint‑venture assumed control [1]. TikTok attributed these specific delays to the same power‑outage‑induced infrastructure strain that affected the broader outage [1]. Multiple creators reported videos stuck “under review” or missing captions, fueling accusations of censorship and prompting account deletions [1].

TikTok Issues Apology and Ongoing Restoration Plan The joint‑venture posted an apology on X and issued a newsroom release, acknowledging the disruption and pledging swift resolution while thanking users for patience [2][3][4]. TikTok emphasized collaboration with the data‑center partner to stabilize the network and promised continuous monitoring, though no precise timeline for full restoration was provided [2][3]. The company reassured creators that displayed metric anomalies do not reflect loss of actual data [2][4].

CapCut and Other Apps Experience Parallel Glitches TikTok‑owned video‑editing app CapCut logged thousands of user complaints on Downdetector, indicating the power outage impacted multiple services within the ecosystem [4]. This broader effect underscores the systemic risk of a single data‑center failure on the company’s suite of applications [4].