Oracle has issued a clarification regarding the widespread disruption faced by TikTok users across the United States over the weekend. The database software and cloud infrastructure provider said the issues affecting TikTok users in the US were caused by a temporary weather-related power outage at one of its data centres.
The explanation came after California Governor Gavin Newsom linked the disruptions to what he described as the suppression of content critical of US President Donald Trump. “Over the weekend, an Oracle data centre experienced a temporary weather-related power outage which impacted TikTok,” Oracle spokesperson Michael Egbert said in an email, reported Reuters.
A powerful winter storm struck much of the US over the weekend. Egbert said that the resulting disruption led to broader technical problems for users. “The challenges US TikTok users may be experiencing are the result of technical issues that followed the power outage, which Oracle and TikTok are working to quickly resolve,” Egbert said.
Newsom, however, raised concerns beyond infrastructure. On Jan. 26, he said that his office was launching a review to determine whether TikTok's content moderation practices violated state law. “Following TikTok's sale to a Trump-aligned business group, our office has received reports, and independently confirmed instances, of suppressed content critical of President Trump,” Newsom's office said.
TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, last week finalised a deal to create a US-owned joint venture, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, aimed at securing US data and averting a ban on the short-video app used by more than 200 million Americans. The deal was praised by Trump. The joint venture has denied censorship, saying “it would be inaccurate to report that this (issues faced by US users) is anything but the technical issues we've transparently confirmed.”
Under the arrangement, each of the joint venture's three managing investors, Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX, will hold a 15% stake. The deal provides for American and global investors to hold 80.1% of the venture, while ByteDance will own 19.9%.
The joint venture said on Jan. 27 that it “made significant progress in recovering our US infrastructure with our US data centre partner” but added that US users may still face technical issues, including when posting new content, according to Reuters.
Trump, who has more than 16 million followers on his personal TikTok account, has credited the platform with helping him win the 2024 election. Last week's deal marked a milestone for TikTok after years of battles with the US government over Washington's concerns about national security and privacy under Trump and former US President Joe Biden.
Watch LIVE TV, Get Stock Market Updates, Top Business, IPO and Latest News on NDTV Profit.