Liputan6.com, Jakarta - Popular short-form video platform TikTok experienced a significant outage on Sunday morning, January 25, 2026, local time in the United States.
Thousands of users reported various issues that hampered their experience using the app. The incident raised questions about the stability of digital services amidst a growing user base.
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The outage happened just days after TikTok finalized a landmark agreement to form a new entity in the United States, a strategic move to avoid a potential ban in the country.
Users complained about a variety of issues, from difficulties loading the app to issues with the "For You" page not functioning properly.
Outage reports peaked with tens of thousands of complaints recorded by the uptime tracking site DownDetector, indicating a significant impact, particularly in the United States.
User Complaints Details
The TikTok outage that occurred on January 25, 2026, caused thousands of users to report various issues.
Many complained of difficulties loading the app, missing comments, and the "For You" page not displaying recent content or not working at all.
Furthermore, some users were unable to play videos or their feed wouldn't refresh, causing them to continually see the same content.
Other issues included an inability to log in, the app feeling slow or laggy, and difficulty reposting videos.
Small-scale content creators even reported their videos being stuck in review for over an hour and not uploading, with analytics in TikTok Studio becoming chaotic.
Scale of Impact of the TikTok Outage
According to data from DownDetector, a global uptime tracking site, outage reports peaked at over 35,000 at that time.
Approximately 65% of users experienced issues with the app not working properly, while 23% reported a complete outage, and 13% reported problems with their TikTok feed.
The number of reports in the United States increased sharply, reaching over 36,000 by 4:00 a.m. local time.
While the outage was global, the majority of reports monitored by Downdetector at that time were from users in the United States.
TikTok's Response and the Context of the Deal in the United States
Interestingly, this outage occurred just days after TikTok finalized a landmark agreement to form a new American entity.
This agreement aims to avoid the threat of a ban on TikTok operations in the United States.
This strategic move is designed to ease TikTok's ties with China and address national security concerns that Beijing could spy on or manipulate its more than 200 million users in the United States.
In the agreement, ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, reached an agreement with a group of non-Chinese investors to form TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.
This new company will manage more than 200 million users and approximately 7.5 million businesses in the United States.
Adam Presser, who previously served as TikTok's chief operating officer and head of trust and safety, will lead the new venture as CEO, supported by a board of directors comprised of American members.However, TikTok's services were reportedly restored within hours of the outage.
The app returned to normal operation in most regions by late morning.