TikTok, now under new management in the United States, announced on Sunday that it has resolved service disruptions that occurred last week, impacting user interactions. With a massive user base of over 220 million in the U.S., the social platform faced issues due to a snowstorm affecting an Oracle-operated data center crucial for its operations.
The company attributed the recent service disruptions to a winter storm that caused a power outage at a key Oracle-operated data center handling TikTok’s operations. This outage affected tens of thousands of servers, leading to network and storage issues that impacted various core features of the platform, such as content posting, content discovery, and real-time engagement metrics.
Earlier this year, the U.S. finalized a deal to establish a separate entity for TikTok, with an American investor consortium, TikTok USDS, acquiring an 80% controlling stake. The remaining 20% ownership remained with ByteDance. The completion of this deal coincided with the snowstorm-related outages, causing disruptions in user experiences like slower loading times, glitches in features, and content posting issues.
During this transition to new ownership and amidst the technical challenges faced by TikTok, other social networks benefited from the situation. Skylight, a short video app supported by Mark Cuban and built on the AT protocol, witnessed a surge in its user base, surpassing 380,000 users following the deal’s finalization. Similarly, Upscrolled, a social platform developed by technologist Issam Hijazi, climbed to the second spot in the social media category on the App Store in the U.S., garnering 41,000 downloads shortly after the TikTok deal was completed, as reported by analyst firm AppFigures.
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