TikTok Glitches After US Split: Technical Issue or Censorship Test?

As snowstorms pummeled the US on Sunday, TikTok users nationwide encountered a different kind of storm: widespread app malfunctions. Comments wouldn't load. The For You page algorithm behaved erratically. For many users, these problems persist today.

The timing raises eyebrows. These outages struck just days after the completion of TikTok's mandated US entity split—a restructuring the government demanded over concerns that China could access user data through former parent company ByteDance. Now, ByteDance owns less than 20% of the new TikTok USDS Joint Venture, while managing investors Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX each hold 15%.

The "Simple Power Outage" Explanation

TikTok's official response was swift and straightforward. The company posted on X that a power outage at a US data center caused the disruptions. "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," they explained.

Given that more than one million Americans lost power during the massive storm, TikTok's explanation seems logical. Downdetector data confirmed the outage affected users nationwide. Yet many users remain skeptical—is it really just coincidence that these issues emerged so soon after the joint venture's formal establishment?

Minneapolis Protests and Search Suppression Claims

The plot thickens when you consider what else was happening during the outage. The disruptions coincided with ongoing protests in Minneapolis, where thousands of ICE agents have been deployed since early January in what Acting Director Todd Lyons called the "largest immigration operation ever."

On Saturday, border patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti—marking ICE's second civilian killing in Minneapolis this month. Following this incident, some TikTok users reported difficulty searching for information about Minneapolis events on the platform.

These search issues sparked panic about potential government censorship, though TikTok attributes all problems to the concurrent data center outage.

Privacy Policy Changes Fuel Surveillance Fears

Adding fuel to the fire, TikTok recently updated its privacy policy with language allowing data collection about users' "sexual life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration status."

However, as TechCrunch reported, many of these disclosures aren't new—they appeared in TikTok's privacy policy before the ownership deal closed, primarily to comply with California's Consumer Privacy Act. Still, the timing of highlighting these data collection practices couldn't be worse for public perception.

The Surveillance State Question

While recent TikTok outages and privacy policy changes might be routine problems with unfortunate timing, Americans have legitimate reasons for caution about social media surveillance—especially during political unrest.

The broader implications extend beyond TikTok. If users can't distinguish between technical failures and intentional suppression, how can they trust any platform's explanations? This uncertainty itself becomes a form of chilling effect on digital discourse.

Consider the ripple effects: other social media companies are watching how this unfolds. Regulators are taking notes. Users are questioning what they once took for granted—that their apps work without political interference.