Photo Credit: Alexander Shatov
TikTok says the technical issues plaguing its budding US enterprise over the past week have been resolved; Oracle cites cold weather as the culprit.
Last week, TikTok’s U.S. operations were pummeled with technical issues and outages, which data giant Oracle has said have been the result of weather-related outages at Oracle data centers.
However, that’s not what caused users’ For You pages to reset once the U.S.-owned version’s officially launched. That was the result of the U.S. version of the app’s famous algorithm kicking in. Many users are still salty about that—so much so that uninstalls are on the rise as users flock to alternative platforms.
“We have successfully restored TikTok back to normal after a significant outage caused by winter weather took down a primary U.S. data center operated by Oracle,” said TikTok in a statement on Sunday, February 1.
“The winter storm led to a power outage which caused network and storage issues at the site and impacted tens of thousands of servers that help keep TikTok running in the U.S. This affected many of TikTok’s core features—from content posting and discovery to the real-time display of videos and view counts. Our teams worked around the clock with Oracle to ensure a safe and full restoration of systems.”
“We’re sorry about the issues experienced by our U.S. community,” TikTok’s statement continued. “We appreciate how much you count on TikTok to create, discover, and connect with what matters to you. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
The timing of the outage certainly didn’t help matters. The news comes amid continued speculation over the apparent suppression of content on the stateside service. California Governor Gavin Newsom suggested that the technical issues were related to that suppression, chiefly of content critical of Donald Trump. But Oracle was quick to put that theory to bed.
“Over the weekend, an Oracle data center experienced a temporary weather-related power outage which impacted TikTok,” said Oracle spokesperson Michael Egbert on Tuesday, January 27. “The challenges U.S. TikTok users may be experiencing are the result of technical issues that followed the power outage, which Oracle and TikTok are working to quickly resolve.”
That statement came a day after Newsom said his office was launching an investigation to determine if TikTok’s content moderation practices violate California state law.
“Following TikTok’s sale to a Trump-aligned business group, our office has received reports—and independently confirmed instances—of suppressed content critical of President Trump,” said Newsom’s office on Monday, January 26.
The outage, which had been ongoing for several days, came just days after the U.S. business was officially transferred to U.S.-based ownership led by Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, will continue to own just under 20% of the U.S. operations.
That transfer of ownership was the result of a law that required divestiture from Chinese ownership, or the platform would face a nation-wide ban. Trump kicked that can down the road for months before a deal could be secured, with several executive orders signed to extend the deadline.
