According to TechCrunch, TikTok users reported widespread glitches on Sunday, including problems loading comments and erratic behavior from the For You page algorithm, with issues persisting for some. The timing coincided with the formal establishment last week of the TikTok USDS Joint Venture, a U.S.-controlled entity mandated by the government, where ByteDance now owns less than 20% and investors like Oracle own 15% each. TikTok attributed the problems to a power outage at a U.S. data center, stating on X they were working to restore services. The outage, tracked by Downdetector, impacted users nationwide and overlapped with ongoing protests in Minneapolis where ICE agents have been deployed in a major operation. This led some users to suspect censorship when they had trouble searching for information on the events, though TikTok linked it to the concurrent outage. The glitches also followed an update to TikTok’s privacy policy, which includes data collection categories like immigration status, though some disclosures pre-date the ownership deal.
Bad Timing Or Bad Optics?
Here’s the thing: TikTok‘s explanation is perfectly logical. A massive storm hits, power goes out for over a million people, and a data center hiccups. It happens. The company’s post on X is straightforward tech outage stuff.
But you can’t blame users for being suspicious. The app’s core algorithm goes wonky days after a new U.S.-led corporate structure is finalized? And it happens during a politically charged moment, with thousands of federal agents deployed in Minneapolis for what ICE calls its “largest immigration operation ever“? After a fatal shooting by border patrol? That’s a conspiracy theory waiting to happen.
So when people couldn’t search for info on Minneapolis, panic about government censorship spread instantly. TikTok says it’s just a power issue. I think both narratives are probably true in their own way—the outage was real, but the timing is catastrophically bad for trust.
The Privacy Policy Angle
And then there’s the privacy policy. Over the weekend, people freaked out over language that allows TikTok to collect data on “citizenship or immigration status” and “sexual orientation.” It sounds ominous, especially now.
But basically, as TechCrunch notes, a lot of this isn’t new. It was largely added to comply with California’s Consumer Privacy Act. You can see it in the archived policy. The problem is, nobody reads these things until a moment of crisis. When you combine a new ownership deal, a national news event involving immigration enforcement, and an app outage, suddenly that boilerplate legal text feels incredibly targeted.
It’s a lesson in how context changes everything. A standard compliance update looks like a sinister plot when the news cycle aligns perfectly against you.
A Perfect Storm Of Distrust
Look, the real story here isn’t about a data center. It’s about a complete collapse of user trust at the worst possible moment. For years, TikTok has battled accusations of being a tool for the Chinese government. Its entire U.S. future hinged on this ownership restructuring proving it’s separate, secure, and transparent.
So what happens in its first major test? A black box algorithm fails during a domestic political crisis. The immediate public assumption isn’t “oh, a transformer blew.” It’s “they’re censoring us.” That’s a huge problem for TikTok USDS. They didn’t just inherit an app; they inherited a deep, pervasive skepticism that a power outage can’t fix.
And let’s be real—in an age of social media surveillance, is that skepticism totally unfounded? Probably not. Americans have every reason to be cautious, as the article says. But this episode shows that for TikTok, every technical glitch will now be a political event. Their margin for error is zero.
