TikTok says it's 'back to normal' after winter storm-related outages

TikTok has announced that its services are "back to normal" in the United States following a series of technical issues and outages caused by winter storms. The disruptions began on January 26, when TikTok reported a "major infrastructure issue" linked to a power outage at one of its primary U.S. data center sites operated by Oracle. This outage resulted in various problems for users, including bugs, time-out requests, and discrepancies in earnings and engagement metrics. In the days following the initial announcement, TikTok communicated updates regarding the situation. On January 27, the company informed users that some creators might temporarily see "0" views or likes on their videos, and that earnings could appear to be missing. TikTok clarified that these issues were display errors caused by server timeouts and assured users that their actual data and engagement remained intact. By February 1, TikTok stated that it had resolved the problems and that users should no longer experience issues related to the outages. The company expressed its apologies for the disruptions experienced by users during this period. With services now restored, TikTok aims to regain full functionality and user confidence after the technical difficulties caused by the winter storm. Overall, the outages highlighted the vulnerability of digital platforms to external factors such as severe weather, and TikTok's response included ongoing communication with users to mitigate concerns during the disruption.