TikTok is managing technical problems and a spike in app uninstalls following its ownership restructuring, as users reported concerns about potential content censorship. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday he is directing state attorneys to investigate whether TikTok is violating California law by censoring Trump-critical content.
The technical and perception challenges come at a sensitive moment for the platform. While daily uninstalls spiked 130 percent over five days, overall user growth continued, suggesting the concerns have not yet driven material abandonment.
Technical Glitches and Censorship Concerns Roil TikTok After Ownership Shift
TikTok disclosed Monday that a power outage at a U.S. data center partner site had triggered “a major infrastructure issue.” The outage caused bugs including video creators seeing zero view counts despite viewer activity, slow load times, and timeout errors when posting videos. By Tuesday, TikTok reported it had made significant progress restoring services, though users continued encountering glitches across the platform.
Censorship Concerns Surface
The technical problems coincided with user reports of content suppression. Social media users began raising concerns that videos critical of President Donald Trump, about immigration enforcement agency ICE, and mentioning financier Jeffrey Epstein were not appearing in their feeds or were displaying significantly reduced view counts.
Scrutiny of the platform intensified as TikTok finalized its new U.S. ownership structure. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday he is directing state attorneys to investigate whether TikTok is violating California law by censoring Trump-critical content. Newsom posted the announcement on X.
Company Response
TikTok attributed the reports to the infrastructure issues. Jamie Favazza, a spokesperson for TikTok’s new U.S. joint venture, said it is inaccurate to characterize what users were experiencing as “anything but the technical issues we’ve transparently confirmed.”
User Impact and Engagement
The outage prompted a measurable shift in user behavior. Market research firm Sensor Tower reported that daily average app uninstalls grew 130 percent from January 22 to January 26 compared with the previous 30 days. The spike did not substantially reduce overall platform engagement: daily average users increased 2 percent over the same period. Sensor Tower also noted that while TikTok lagged YouTube and Instagram in U.S. user growth, users spent more time on TikTok than on either rival platform.
Platform Confidence at Risk
User perception may matter more than technical reality. Minda Smiley, a social media analyst at research firm Emarketer, said that “optics and perceptions are really important in situations like this.” She noted that regardless of what is actually occurring technically, if users perceive content suppression or encounter difficulty uploading, “that’s enough reason for a lot of users to flee or to stop using TikTok or to say they’re going to stop using TikTok.”
Smiley added that user behavior often diverges from stated intent. A year ago, TikTok users briefly migrated to RedNote, a Chinese social media app, to protest a potential U.S. ban—a protest that did not persist. Still, if TikTok’s current technical problems continue or if users persist in reporting perceived content moderation issues, the platform faces risk of material usage decline, she said.