TikTok's newly formed US entity has been plagued by technical glitches following a data center power outage, leading to a sharp increase in app uninstalls. Frustrated users are turning to an independent competitor, UpScrolled, which has seen a surge in downloads. The issues coincide with the app's ownership transition to majority-US investors.
TikTok's American operations hit a rough patch just days after formalizing a joint venture with majority-US investors on January 23, 2026. A power outage at a US data center on Sunday triggered widespread glitches, including faulty recommendation algorithms, zero view counts on posts, slow load times, and difficulties uploading videos or logging in. The company attributed the problems to a 'cascading systems failure' and assured users that their data and engagement metrics remain intact.
In a statement on X, TikTok's USDS Joint Venture said: 'Since yesterday we’ve been working to restore our services following a power outage at a US data center impacting TikTok and other apps we operate. We’re working with our data center partner to stabilize our service. We’re sorry for this disruption and hope to resolve it soon.' By Monday evening, issues persisted, with users reporting bugs and timed-out requests, especially when posting new content.
The outage has fueled user frustration and conspiracy theories. Some speculated that the new right-wing owners, hand-picked by Donald Trump, were censoring left-leaning content, such as videos criticizing ICE raids in Minnesota. TikTok's silence during the initial weekend exacerbated these concerns. Additionally, a privacy policy update now allows collection of precise GPS location data and AI interaction metadata, raising privacy worries.
Analytics from Sensor Tower indicate a 150% rise in US uninstalls over the past three months, despite a 2% increase in daily active users. Meanwhile, indie app UpScrolled, launched in June 2025 by Australian developer Issam Hijazi, has capitalized on the turmoil. It jumped to ninth in the US App Store downloads and second among social apps, with 41,000 downloads from Thursday to Saturday—up from under 500 daily prior. The app, which features a chronological feed for photos and short videos without ads, saw server strain from the influx, prompting a tweet: 'You showed up so fast our servers tapped out... Bear with us.' UpScrolled emphasizes an 'authentic, unfiltered' platform, funded privately by its founder and investors.
This echoes last year's brief surge for RedNote amid TikTok ban fears, though experts note potential for lasting shifts if TikTok's retrained algorithm under new ownership alienates users.
