Thousands of U.S. users reported trouble using TikTok on January 25 and 26, 2026, with complaints peaking early in the disruption. The company that now runs the U.S. version of TikTok said the problem came from a power outage at a U.S. data center, and engineers have been working with a data center partner to restore full service. Users described problems such as videos not uploading, feeds that stopped refreshing, repeated content on the For You page, and missing comments.

What happened, in plain terms

TikTok users began reporting problems late on January 25 and into January 26, 2026. Outage monitoring sites and social feeds showed tens of thousands of individual reports at the peak of the incident. For many people the app opened, but core features did not behave as expected. For others the app failed to load at all.

The company operating TikTok in the U.S. posted a brief statement, saying it had been "working to restore our services following a power outage at a U.S. data center impacting TikTok and other apps we operate," and that it was working with a data center partner to stabilize service. Engineers continued recovery and testing through the day.

"Since yesterday we’ve been working to restore our services following a power outage at a U.S. 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."

How many people were affected

• At the peak of the incident, user reports on monitoring platforms numbered in the tens of thousands.
• Local reports and outage maps highlighted several major U.S. cities as hotspots, including Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, Tampa and Washington.

Table: Breakdown of the most commonly reported problems (approximate, from outage trackers)

These percentages correspond to typical categorization from outage collectors, and they reflect what users were reporting in real time, not a formal engineering analysis.

Why some people suspect more than a technical fault

The outage arrived days after the U.S. spin off of TikTok was finalized, a transaction that moved majority control of the U.S. business to an American led joint venture. That timing made some users and commentators uneasy, especially because the joint venture has said it will retrain the recommendation algorithm and move U.S. data into U.S. infrastructure.

Viewpoint A, official: The company and its U.S. operator point to a concrete, explained cause, a power failure at a data center, and to ongoing remediation work with their partner.

Viewpoint B, skeptical users and observers: A small but vocal minority worried the outage could be connected to the ownership change or to shifts in how content is moderated or surfaced. Those concerns were amplified when users saw unusual content patterns on their For You pages during the disruption.

Viewpoint C, technical analysts: Power failures at data centers are a plausible, often documented cause of service interruption, especially during severe winter storms when power and network redundancy can be stressed. When a large service changes where its data and algorithmic infrastructure run, there is always a technical migration risk, but there is no publicly disclosed evidence so far that the outage was anything other than a data center power issue.

What the outage reveals about TikTok’s infrastructure

• Global apps depend on a mix of regional data centers, content delivery networks, and replicated services. If a key regional data center experiences a power failure and if redundancy or failover does not kick in cleanly, users in that region can see degraded or missing service.
• The U.S. spin off explicitly moved responsibility for U.S. data and algorithm training to U.S. infrastructure. That makes the U.S. environment more dependent on a U.S. infrastructure footprint, which can reduce some risks but also concentrate impact if a critical facility has a problem.
• Outages like this show the trade off between data locality, national policy compliance, and operational resilience.

Practical steps for users and creators right now

If TikTok looks broken for you, try the basics first:

• Force close the app, clear the app cache if available, and relaunch. Sometimes a client side restart resolves transient errors.
• Switch between Wi Fi and mobile data to rule out a local network issue.
• Check outage tracking services and social feeds to see if others are reporting the same problem.
• If you rely on TikTok for business or content release, delay major uploads until the platform reports stable operations, and cross post to other channels as a backup.

Quick network checks creators and tech savvy users can run locally:

```

Ping check

ping tiktok.com

Basic HTTP fetch to see response

curl -I https://www.tiktok.com

Traceroute to examine where the network drops

traceroute tiktok.com
```

These commands will not prove a platform wide outage, but they can rule out simple DNS or ISP issues.

What to watch for next

• Official updates from the company running TikTok in the U.S., which will describe when services are fully restored and what caused the outage.
• Outage tracker data, which should show reports declining as the platform stabilizes.
• Statements from the data center partner if the issue was an infrastructure failure that affected multiple customers.

Broader implications

This event is a reminder that even popular consumer apps rely on physical infrastructure that can fail, and that business and policy decisions that change where and how data and algorithms are hosted can shift operational risks. For most users an outage like this is an inconvenient interruption. For creators and small businesses that depend on predictable posting windows, these incidents can be costly.

At the same time, transparency matters. When an outage overlaps with big structural changes at a company, users expect clear, timely information, and independent monitoring services play an important role in corroborating reports from the field.

Bottom line

Yes, many U.S. users experienced a TikTok outage on January 25 and 26, 2026. The company says the cause was a power outage at a U.S. data center and it has been working with its partner to restore services. The timing of the disruption, coming days after the U.S. spin off was finalized, created suspicion for some users, but available evidence points to an infrastructure failure rather than intentional restriction. Watch official channels for a final post incident report, and creators should treat service windows conservatively until the platform confirms full recovery.

David Anderson, veteran technology reporter with 25 years covering platform infrastructure and social media policy.