Over the weekend, TikTok users in various regions across the United States experienced significant issues accessing the app. Many reported that videos failed to load and they were unable to log in. In response to the widespread outage, TikTok acknowledged the problem, stating that they were addressing a major infrastructure issue. Oracle, the cloud infrastructure provider for TikTok, has since revealed the underlying cause of the disruption. Details on the specific nature of the infrastructure problem have not yet been disclosed.
As reported by Reuters, Oracle has confirmed that the disruption of TikTok services was caused by an outage at one of its data centers.
The company said that the engineers worked swiftly in identifying and resolving the issue. The issue has been resolved, and systems are back online,” Oracle said in a statement. “We experienced an outage at a U.S. data center that impacted TikTok services.
Investors including software giant Oracle; MGX, an Emirati investment firm; and Silver Lake, another investment firm, will own more than 80% of the new venture. Under the new arrangement, Oracle, MGX and Silver Lake will each own 15% of TikTok’s US operations. ByteDance will own just under 20%.
That list also includes the personal investment entity for Dell founder Michael Dell, and other companies, TikTok said. The majority of the seven-member board for US TikTok will be American, according to a December memo to TikTok employees. Adam Presser, TikTok’s former head of operations, will be the CEO for the US TikTok.
The other investors include Dell’s office and a long list of investment companies, including affiliates of General Atlantic and Susquehanna, both of which previously invested in ByteDance.
American TikTok users are deleting the app
The report says that while this language has actually been present in TikTok’s policy since at least August 2024, its fueled a narrative of increased surveillance under the new American owners. The deal is aimed to loosen TikTok’s ties to China and address national security concerns that Beijing could use the app to surveil or manipulate its more than 200 million users in the United States. As reported by CNBC, after the transition of TikTok from a Chinese company to a majority US-owned app, the users are deleting the app. The report claims that the exodus began shortly after the newly-formed TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC prompted users to agree to an updated privacy policy.
As per the new policy, TikTok may collect data, including sensitive information such as “your racial or ethnic origin” as well as “sexual life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration status, or financial information”. The changes enable “our U.S. users to continue to discover, create, and thrive as part of TikTok’s vibrant global community and experience,” Shou Chew, TikTok’s CEO, said in an internal memo that called the move “great news. ” Chew has a seat on the board of US Tiktok. TikTok heavily relies of Oralce’s cloud infrastructure in the US as part of its Project Texas initiative. For those unaware, the program is designed to address national security concerns by storing data of American users on domestic servers. Some users quickly flagged language regarding the collection of sensitive data.