TikTok users in the United States faced widespread disruption after reporting that the popular social media platform was not functioning properly, just days after a potential TikTok ban was narrowly avoided through a major ownership deal. The unexpected issues sparked frustration across platforms as users struggled with sign-in problems, slow performance, and broken features.
Hundreds of users took to social media to complain about difficulties accessing their accounts, with many reporting repeated login failures. Others said the app was running unusually slow, while features such as reposting videos were not working as expected. A significant number of users also flagged problems with content discovery, noting that their feeds were showing repetitive videos instead of personalised recommendations.
According to data from Downdetector, reports of a possible TikTok outage in the US surged sharply, peaking at around 4:00 am, when more than 36,000 complaints were recorded. Although the number of reports dropped later in the day, the platform continued to experience issues for many users well into Sunday.
By 2:42 pm, reported problems had declined to approximately 4,689, but ongoing disruptions suggested that the issue was not fully resolved. Downdetector statistics revealed that 65% of complaints were linked to app functionality, while 22% of users reported complete outages. Another 23% cited problems specifically related to their TikTok feeds.
The timing of the disruption has raised eyebrows, as it follows a major shift in TikTok’s US operations. On January 22, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance finalised a deal to restructure the platform as a majority American-owned joint venture, a move aimed at easing regulatory pressure and preventing a nationwide ban.
While TikTok has not yet issued a detailed public explanation, users remain concerned about the platform’s stability and reliability, particularly in the wake of significant corporate changes. The incident has renewed debate about the impact of ownership transitions on large-scale digital platforms and whether internal adjustments may temporarily affect user experience.
As TikTok continues to dominate short-form video consumption, users are calling for greater transparency and quicker resolutions when widespread technical issues arise.
