Trump-Backed US TikTok Launch Faces Early Technical And Political Turbulence
TikTok’s newly restructured US operation, now controlled by a group of largely American investors approved by President Donald Trump, has stumbled out of the gate amid technical disruptions and growing political scrutiny.
Over the past several days, users of the video-sharing app have reported widespread glitches, including difficulties posting content and unexplained drops in video visibility. As speculation spread across social media that the new Trump-aligned ownership was suppressing critical voices, TikTok denied any political interference and attributed the problems to an infrastructure failure.
According to the company, the disruption was caused by a power outage at a data centre operated by Oracle, a major investor in the US TikTok entity. TikTok said on Tuesday that it had made “significant progress” in restoring services, though some users may continue to experience technical issues.
Oracle later confirmed that one of its data centres suffered a temporary, weather-related power outage over the weekend, which affected TikTok’s operations. The company said it is working with TikTok to fully resolve the resulting system failures.
Despite those explanations, the episode has drawn the attention of Democratic politicians, who have raised concerns about possible censorship following the change in ownership. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that his administration would review whether TikTok may have violated state law by suppressing content critical of President Trump.
Newsom’s office said it had received complaints and identified instances where Trump-critical content appeared to be restricted, prompting a request for the state attorney general to examine the matter. Other Democratic officials have echoed similar concerns, using the incident to highlight the app’s new ownership structure.
Under a deal mandated by Congress and facilitated by Trump, a consortium of US-based investors assumed control last week over TikTok’s American operations and user data. The group includes Oracle, whose chairman Larry Ellison is a close ally of the president. The new entity is owned roughly 80 percent by non-Chinese investors, while Beijing-based ByteDance retains a minority stake.
Critics have questioned whether the arrangement could reshape TikTok’s content policies in ways that favour Trump or the Republican Party ahead of future elections, drawing comparisons to changes made to Twitter after Elon Musk acquired the platform and rebranded it as X.
Concerns intensified over the weekend after high-profile users, including musicians and political commentators, claimed their videos criticising Trump’s immigration policies were delayed in review or received unusually low engagement. Some posts referenced the fatal police shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, which sparked outrage across social media platforms.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy amplified the concerns, describing the situation as a significant threat amid broader democratic challenges. TikTok later responded, citing a cascading systems failure linked to the data centre outage as the cause of the disruptions.
In a follow-up statement, the company reiterated its commitment to restoring full functionality and pledged to keep users informed. Separately, TikTok acknowledged reports that some users were unable to send certain words, including “Epstein,” in direct messages, saying it was investigating the issue and that no such restriction exists in its policies.
The controversy has highlighted deep political sensitivities around content moderation on major platforms, echoing – though from the opposite direction – earlier conservative complaints of “shadowbanning” during the Biden administration. As TikTok works to stabilise its systems, scrutiny of its new US ownership and governance is likely to intensify.
