TikTok says a power outage caused a 'cascading systems failure' that messed up its algorithm

Does your TikTok “For You” page look funky?

It may have been messed up by a data center outage, a spokesperson for TikTok’s new US joint venture told Business Insider.

“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,” the company wrote on Monday on X (formerly Twitter).

TikTok said the outage had triggered a “cascading systems failure” that was causing “multiple bugs, slower load times, or timed-out requests, including when posting new content.” Creators may temporarily see 0 views or likes on videos, and “earnings may look like they’re missing,” the company wrote.

On Tuesday morning, the company said it was still experiencing some technical issues.

“We’re committed to bringing TikTok back to full capacity as soon as possible,” the company wrote.

TikTok first informed employees of the outage on Sunday. That day, its users began reporting issues with their feeds, including seeing a flurry of old or irrelevant posts instead of new videos. The absence of topical content, such as on-the-ground videos from the Minneapolis ICE protestsled to speculation on social media that TikTok’s new US investors were manipulating the algorithm.

A TikTok spokesperson said any algorithm changes users may have noticed were likely due to the outage.

Many users were on high alert for any changes to their FYP this weekend after TikTok said on Thursday that it had finalized a joint venture agreement to hand over management of its US user data and algorithm to an investor group. The joint-venture group, which includes Oracle and investment firms Silver Lake and MGX, is expected to “retrain, test, and update the content recommendation algorithm on U.S. user data,” TikTok wrote in its announcement around the deal.

Even before TikTok closed its deal, creators, employees, and other members of the app’s community were worried about what a US divestment could mean for its algorithm.

“The algo is what makes TikTok great,” one current TikTok staffer told Business Insider last quarter. “Will a retrain be as good?”

Peter Kafka and Sydney Bradley contributed reporting.