TikTok has restored service following significant outages last week that disrupted the experience for its over 220 million users in the United States. The company, which is now under a new U.S. ownership structure, stated the problems were caused by a severe snowstorm. That winter weather triggered a power outage at a primary Oracle-operated data center responsible for TikTok’s U.S. operations.
In a statement, TikTok explained the power outage led to network and storage issues, impacting tens of thousands of servers. This failure affected many of the app’s core functions, including the ability to post and discover content, as well as the real-time display of video likes and view counts. The company noted that some creators even saw zero views on their posts until the issue was resolved.
These technical glitches coincided with the finalization of TikTok’s new ownership deal in January. Under this arrangement, a U.S.-based investor consortium called TikTok USDS now holds a controlling 80 percent stake, while ByteDance retains the remaining 20 percent. During the transition period, users reported problems with posting content, searching within the app, slower load times, and time-outs.
The combination of the ownership transition and app instability proved beneficial for some competing social networks. Skylight, a short video app backed by Mark Cuban and built on the AT protocol, saw its user base soar to more than 380,000 users in the week the TikTok deal was finalized. Another platform, Upscrolled, created by technologist Issam Hijazi, climbed to the second spot in the U.S. App Store’s social media category. It was downloaded 41,000 times in the days following the TikTok deal’s completion, according to analytics firm AppFigures.