Why TikTok’s first week of American ownership was a disaster

A little more than one week ago, TikTok stepped on to US shores as a naturalized citizen. Ever since, the video app has been fighting for its life.TikTok’s calamitous emigration began on 22 January when its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, finalized a deal to sell the app to a group of US investors, among them the business software giant Oracle. The app’s time under Chinese ownership had been marked by a meteoric ascent to more than a billion users, which left incumbents such as Instagram looking like the next Myspace. But TikTok’s short new life in the US has been less than auspicious.The day after TikTok’s arrival, its owners altered its to permit more extensive data collection, including tracking the precise locations of its users. The change was notable less for any potential invasion of privacy than for suspicion of the new owners. The updated policy falls in line with those of other major social networks. But what did these men, among them billionaire Oracle owner and Maga donor Larry Ellison, intend to do with the user data? The tweaks aroused suspicion that would blossom into paranoia just a few days later.During the weekend that followed the transfer of TikTok’s ownership, the US weathered two major events. A hefty, frigid snowstorm slammed the country and put about 230 million people on alert for power outages and burst pipes. And federal immigration officers killed a 37-year-old US citizen in Minneapolis during a protest, which elicited outright lies from the White House despite copious video footage. Both would knock TikTok off its feet, though in different ways.Winter Storm Fern crippled multiple Oracle datacenters that TikTok relies on, which the company did not make public at the time. The app suffered severe outages as a result, according to a statement from the company. Many users said they were unable to upload videos. Others said their videos received zero views despite significant followings.Simultaneously, prominent personalities were attempting to use TikTok to express their outrage over the violent death of Alex Pretti at the hands and guns of border patrol agents. They found they could not post videos or that they received zero views. In response, many users – among them California state senator Scott Weiner, musician Billie Eilish and her brother, and comedian Meg Stalter – accused TikTok of stifling videos critical of federal immigration agents. Stalter said she would delete her account, which boasts nearly 280,000 followers. Media outlets far and wide – the New York Times, Variety, the Independent, CNN, the Washington Post – picked up their claims. Cosmopolitan magazine asked: “Is TikTok Censoring Anti-ICE Content?” The Democratic senator Chris Murphy, from Connecticut, tweeted that TikTok’s alleged censorship was a “threat to democracy”.After days of outcry online, IRL scrutiny and likely dozens of requests for clarification from the press, TikTok issued a statement blaming the problems on the snow, ice and cold on 26 January.Oracle issued a statement with more detail: “Over the weekend, an Oracle datacenter experienced a temporary weather-related power outage which impacted TikTok. The challenges US TikTok users may be experiencing are the result of technical issues that followed the power outage.” It is uncommon for a physical event like a storm to wound a major site of digital life like TikTok, as such popular apps often have backups to their backups, but it can happen.The most powerful figure to accuse TikTok of censorship was not its most famous user. The governor of California is better known for his textual presence on X than his TikToks. Nevertheless, Gavin Newsom announced on 27 January that his office would investigate whether TikTok had censored videos critical of Donald Trump, broadening the scope of alleged pro-Maga interference by the app.The late attribution of blame did little to assuage public criticism. An unknown number of users said they were decamping from the new American TikTok in response to its perceived censorship. The exodus has propelled a new competitor, Upscrolled, which promises less censorship than TikTok, to the top spot in the US Apple App Store and the third spot in the Google Play Store. An Upscrolled press release now claims more than a million users. As of writing, TikTok rests at No 16 in the iPhone App Store and 10th in the Google Play Store. Alongside Upscrolled in the top 10 most downloaded are three apps used to cloak online activity from surveillance, which are known as virtual private networks (VPNs). A fear of digital government incursions is in the air.With more than a billion users worldwide, it seems unlikely that TikTok will altogether vanish as a result of these failures. Facebook and Instagram have withstood far graver scandals than this. TikTok’s first week in the US does not bode well for its future, though. The app has damaged user trust, and another misstep may inflict a more lasting injury.TikTok’s week of mayhem began with Trump. The transfer of TikTok’s ownership consummated the ban-or-sell deal the US president proposed nearly six years ago, and he said he was thrilled that that the transfer had finally taken place. In the intervening years, Trump had walked back his support for the deal; his enemy Joe Biden had supported it during his presidency; Congress had passed a law codifying Trump’s wishes and legally forcing TikTok’s sale; and the US supreme court had ratified the law in the face of a challenge by TikTok and immense popular disapproval. Then Trump ordered the immigration crackdown that set the stage for the killing of two US citizens. The only aspect of TikTok’s miserable week Trump had no hand in was the winter weather.TikTok’s disastrous arrival marks an anniversary of a similar bungled nature. One year and two weeks ago, the app stopped functioning in the US because of the same sell-or-ban law that precipitated the sale. That darkening lasted less than 24 hours. Its new owners can only hope their present problems go away just as soon.