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TikTok US Outage Cripples Uploads and Views Days After Ownership Deal
Hours after finalizing a deal to transition ownership of its U.S. arm, TikTok experienced widespread disruptions across its platform and CapCut app. The outage hit on January 26, 2026, affecting millions of users.
What Happened: Power Outage Sparks Chaos
TikTok's USDS joint venture pinpointed the cause: a power outage at a U.S. data center partner site. This triggered a cascading systems failure, knocking out core services. Content creators reported videos stuck at zero views or failing to upload entirely. Viewers could still access existing content, but new posts ground to a halt.
DownDetector charts showed spikes in complaints nationwide, peaking over the weekend. By January 26 at 12:32 PM, TikTok confirmed teams were restoring service, though no firm timeline emerged.
Official Response and User Impact
The USDS account posted updates on the 'major infrastructure issue.' They assured users that actual data and engagement metrics remained safe, despite appearances. Symptoms included bugs, slow load times, timed-out requests, and the notorious zero-view bug on uploads.
Latest statement from USDS: "We're continuing to resolve a major infrastructure issue triggered by a power outage at one of our U.S. data center partner sites. While the network has been recovered, the outage caused a cascading systems failure." TikTok apologized for disruptions and noted collaboration with the data center partner to stabilize services.
- Power outage at U.S. data center: Confirmed root cause.
- Cascading failure: Affected uploads, views, and app performance.
- Data safety: Engagement preserved, just delayed in display.
- Timeline: Network partially back; full fix ongoing as of Jan 26.
Timing Raises Eyebrows Post-Deal
The outage struck mere hours after the ownership transition deal for TikTok's U.S. operations was signed. Details of the deal remain under wraps, but it aims to address national security concerns by shifting control from ByteDance. Speculation swirled online: was this coincidence or infrastructure strain from changes?
CapCut, TikTok's editing app, also went dark, amplifying creator frustration. Independent trackers like DownDetector logged thousands of reports, with upload issues dominating.
Broader Network Implications
This incident highlights vulnerabilities in hyperscale data centers powering social platforms. A single power failure rippled across services, exposing reliance on centralized infrastructure. TikTok operates multiple apps, so the blast radius was wide.
Recovery efforts focus on stabilizing servers. Users saw intermittent fixes, but full normalization lagged. TikTok urged patience, promising swift resolution.
What's Next for TikTok US
As of late January 26, 2026, services edged toward recovery. Creators tested uploads with mixed success. The event tests the new ownership structure's resilience early on.
Network engineers worldwide watch closely. Power redundancies and failover systems face scrutiny. For TikTok's 170 million U.S. users, normalcy can't come soon enough.