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TikTok encountered a temporary outage in the early morning of January 25, 2026, mainly impacting users in the United States. The issues started at approximately 3:51 a.m. ET, according to DownDetector, and appeared to be fixed by 7:40 a.m. ET, with the platform's status page showing no further problems.

During the downtime, users reported challenges in accessing the app, though exact details of the glitches weren't specified. This event came right after ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, completed an agreement to create a joint venture with American investors, designed to mitigate national security risks and avert a possible ban in the US.

The new setup involves TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which will handle U.S. user data, applications, and algorithms with improved privacy and cybersecurity protocols. Despite this, some U.S. legislators, like Representative Jack Moolenaar from the House select committee on China, are pushing for congressional review, expressing doubts about lingering Chinese control over the algorithm and data safeguards.

TikTok has assured that U.S. users will keep using the familiar app, but questions linger about how feed customization might evolve. The U.S.-based algorithm will be licensed from ByteDance and retrained using local user data, potentially causing minor shifts in recommended content. Experts like Jasmine Enberg from eMarketer warn that these adjustments could disengage users if not managed carefully.

In its announcement, TikTok highlights that American creators will still be visible worldwide, and businesses will maintain global access. However, specifics on how the U.S. operations will integrate smoothly with ByteDance's international framework remain vague. No direct cause for the outage was reported, and services returned to normal without lingering effects.