TikTok Outage Hits 36,000 Reports Days After US Ownership Deal

TikTok logged more than 36,000 user reports on Jan. 25, 2026, with login failures and feed disruptions peaking shortly before 4 a.m. — just three days after the app's Jan. 22 restructuring into a majority American-owned joint venture averted a US ban.

Downdetector data shows the outage reports hit 35,000-plus at 4:04 a.m. Sunday and fell to 4,689 by 2:42 p.m., though many users kept experiencing problems into the evening. Of the reports, 65% concerned the app itself, 22% total outages and 23% feed issues.

What went wrong for users?

Reports ranged from failed sign-ins and lagging to an inability to repost videos, repeated old videos and noticeably less curated feeds, according to complaints shared across social platforms.

The disruption extended beyond the app. Some users could not load TikTok's Help Center, which returned the error "Something went wrong. Try again later." Attempts to view the new terms of service at TikTok.com/legal produced another message: "An error occurred while processing your request."

TikTok has not publicly tied the outage to the ownership transition, and Downdetector figures only measure self-reported complaints, not confirmed platform metrics. Creators should treat any causal link between the deal and the outage as speculation until the company confirms otherwise.

Who owns TikTok now?

ByteDance, TikTok's Beijing-headquartered parent company, finalized the deal on Jan. 22. Under the agreement, American and global investors — including Trump-backed investors Oracle and MGX — hold an 80.1% stake, while ByteDance retains 19.9%.

The joint-venture structure resolved the years-long US regulatory pressure that threatened a full ban of the app.

What changed in the terms of service?

TikTok rolled out new terms and conditions effective Jan. 22. "We're updating our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (both as linked) effective January 22, 2026 to reflect changes including our updated corporate entity," the TikTok website read. "By clicking below, you agree to these changes. If you are under 18, you also confirm that your parent or guardian has reviewed them with you and agreed to them."

Per reporting by Newsweek and The New York Times, the updated terms:

• Reaffirm that users under 13 cannot access the full version of the app
• Expand TikTok's ability to target advertising
• Broaden tracking of location data for users who grant permission

"The revised privacy policy includes a statement that the new U.S. TikTok will share some data with TikTok's global operations to ensure that users have an 'interoperable experience,'" the NYT reported on Jan. 23.

What does this mean for marketers?

The new advertising-targeting and location-tracking language could expand campaign capabilities for US advertisers, but the data-sharing provisions with global operations may raise fresh compliance questions for brands with strict data-handling policies. Any brand running time-sensitive campaigns on Jan. 25 faced degraded distribution as feeds failed to refresh and users couldn't log in.

With the ownership transition only days old and technical stability still uneven, advertisers and creators should watch whether report volumes normalize in the coming week — and whether TikTok publicly explains what caused the outage.