TikTok’s new start marred with outages, accusations of censorship
Just a few days after TikTok officially transferred control of its American business to a group of majority-US investors, the platform experienced a widespread service outage. TikTok says these were just technical issues, but many users suspect foul play of a different sort.
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Just a few days after TikTok officially transferred control of its American business to a group of majority-US investors, the platform experienced a widespread service outage. TikTok says these were just technical issues, but many users suspect foul play of a different sort.
- A major TikTok outage after its US ownership transfer sparked fears that political content critical of Trump was being deliberately suppressed.
- TikTok says the disruptions were technical issues, but creators and officials question the platform’s neutrality under Trump-aligned investors.
- Growing distrust has led to a surge in TikTok uninstalls and increased scrutiny of its moderation and privacy practices.
Already on Sunday, TikTok users began reporting trouble uploading videos to the app and viewing content that had already been posted. Others said they were receiving far fewer views and engagement than usual.
Many were speculating that the new owners – all friendly to the Trump administration and, presumably, its policies – were intentionally suppressing videos that criticize the US president and, specifically, deadly federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.
For instance, Steve Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Law, said in a Bluesky post that he had “recorded a video on TikTok about why DHS’s arguments for the power to enter homes without judicial warrants in immigration cases are bunk. Nine hours later, TikTok still says my video is ‘under review,’ and can’t be shared.”
This morning, I recorded a video on TikTok about why DHS’s arguments for the power to enter homes without judicial warrants in immigration cases are bunk. Nine hours later, TikTok still says my video is “under review,” and can’t be shared. Well, here’s a link: georgetown.box.com/v/Vladeck-IC...
undefined Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) January 26, 2026 at 4:00 AM
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Singer Billie Eilish posted “tiktok is silencing people btw” on her Instagram account after her brother Finneas O’Connell posted a TikTok video about Alex Pretti’s death that reached fewer viewers than usual.
On Monday, TikTok issued a statement saying that it had suffered a “cascading system failure” that had caused “multiple bugs,” such as creators not being able to post new videos or seeing their content showing zero views.
An update on our work to restore and stabilize TikTok. pic.twitter.com/PZzsuFeZmj
undefined TikTok USDS Joint Venture (@tiktokusdsjv) January 26, 2026
The outage was reportedly caused by a power outage at a US data center. It’s unclear if it may have been related to a powerful winter storm over large parts of the country.
TikTok’s DownDetector page shows you just how widespread this issue was over the weekend. The situation now seems to be normalizing.
Still, users are understandably anxious over the future of TikTok since its American branch, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, is controlled by a consortium of US businesses that include Trump allies. The deal was finalized last week.
One of the investors is Oracle, whose executive chairman, Larry Ellison, recently acquired CBS and installed “anti-woke” columnist Bari Weiss as the editor in chief of CBS News. Trump has praised the decision.
California Governor Gavin Newsom already accused TikTok of suppressing content critical of Trump and launched a review to decide if its content moderation practices violated 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,” Newsom’s office said on X, without elaborating.
NEW: 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. @CAGovernor Gavin Newsom is launching a review of this conduct and is calling on the… https://t.co/D6vQ890gO8
undefined Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) January 27, 2026
CNBC is reporting that the daily average number of TikTok app uninstalls in the US has shot up by 150% over the last week. Much of the increase is being blamed on skepticism of the new joint ownership and the newly updated privacy policy.
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