TikTok is back online after suffering a major outage on that left thousands of users unable to access the popular video-sharing platform for approximately 4-5 hours. Users from across the United States complained of server connection issues and reported that their videos, user pages, following feeds, and For You Page displayed zero likes and views.
Website Downdetector, which tracks problems reported by users, registered a huge spike in complaints at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, with reports peaking at over 33,000 by 4:45 p.m. Of those reports, 79 percent indicated problems with the app, while another 19 percent reported server connection issues.
The social media giant acknowledged the issue in a statement, explaining that the problem occurred due to higher traffic than usual. "The issues appear to have been caused by higher traffic than normal on our servers in Virginia, causing temporary service disruptions," a TikTok spokesperson said.
Users reporting outages were initially concentrated in New York, Washington, D.C., Houston, and Seattle, according to Downdetector data. Some TikTokers reported being able to briefly access the app before it went down again.
As of 8 p.m. ET, users were reporting that the app was functioning normally again, though some continued to experience minor issues as services were fully restored.
The popular video-sharing platform has an estimated 2 billion users worldwide, with approximately 170 million Americans using the app as of 2024. According to Pew Research, one-third of adults in the U.S. now use TikTok, up from 21 percent in 2021.
The outage comes amid ongoing uncertainty about TikTok's future in the United States. In early April, President Donald Trump extended the deadline for TikTok to find a U.S. buyer by an additional 75 days to "ensure all necessary approvals are signed," while preventing the app from going dark in America.
Website Downdetector, which tracks problems reported by users, registered a huge spike in complaints at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, with reports peaking at over 33,000 by 4:45 p.m. Of those reports, 79 percent indicated problems with the app, while another 19 percent reported server connection issues.
The social media giant acknowledged the issue in a statement, explaining that the problem occurred due to higher traffic than usual. "The issues appear to have been caused by higher traffic than normal on our servers in Virginia, causing temporary service disruptions," a TikTok spokesperson said.
Users reporting outages were initially concentrated in New York, Washington, D.C., Houston, and Seattle, according to Downdetector data. Some TikTokers reported being able to briefly access the app before it went down again.
As of 8 p.m. ET, users were reporting that the app was functioning normally again, though some continued to experience minor issues as services were fully restored.
The popular video-sharing platform has an estimated 2 billion users worldwide, with approximately 170 million Americans using the app as of 2024. According to Pew Research, one-third of adults in the U.S. now use TikTok, up from 21 percent in 2021.
The outage comes amid ongoing uncertainty about TikTok's future in the United States. In early April, President Donald Trump extended the deadline for TikTok to find a U.S. buyer by an additional 75 days to "ensure all necessary approvals are signed," while preventing the app from going dark in America.
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