TikTok last week finalized a deal to hand over its U.S. operations to a majority American-owned venture, and things aren't exactly running smoothly for the new U.S. company so far.
Over the weekend, some U.S. TikTok users were unable to upload videos, which TikTok attributed to a power outage at a U.S. data center. TikTok users found they were unable to upload videos related to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Saturday shooting in Minneapolis, leading to concerns over censorship. Users saw their videos put into a review process, or experienced fewer than expected video views. Some users received messages that their posts related to the shooting had been flagged as "Ineligible for Recommendation," while others were temporarily suspended.
This evening, TikTok said that it is still working to resolve the infrastructure issue, which apparently caused a "cascading systems failure" leading to a long list of bugs. TikTok users may see slower load times, timed-out requests, and 0 views or likes on videos.
The ongoing outage and the accompanying censorship fears have caused some TikTok users to abandon the platform for UpScrolled, an alternative video sharing social platform. UpScrolled is currently the number eight free app in the U.S. App Store, but it was as high as number two earlier today.
Users have also expressed concerns about an updated TikTok privacy policy that suggests it collects "citizenship or immigration status" along with precise user location information, but the prior TikTok privacy policy also included that wording.
The new TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is 80.1 percent owned by U.S. and global investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. The three companies each own 15 percent as managing investors, and other U.S. stakeholders include the Dell Family Office and affiliates of Susquehanna International Group. TikTok parent company ByteDance continues to hold a 19.9 percent stake.
A seven-member majority-American board of directors is operating the U.S. version of TikTok, with Adam Presser, TikTok's former global head of operations serving as CEO.
Under the agreement, the venture handles U.S. data protection, content moderation, and algorithm security. TikTok's recommendation algorithm is being retrained and updated on U.S. user data, and it has been secured in Oracle's cloud environment.
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