TikTok’s United States (US) app has said that recent disruptions, including problems sending messages containing the name “Epstein” and alleged suppression of content related to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), were caused by a power outage at one of its data centers.

 

 

The company pushed back against claims that the issues were politically motivated, saying the disruptions were linked to technical problems rather than censorship.

 

 

Earlier, users reported account glitches after TikTok began operating under a US-led joint venture, following months of scrutiny over its Chinese ownership. 

 

 

Some users claimed messages with the word “Epstein” failed to send, prompting warnings that the messages might violate community guidelines.

 

 

A spokesperson for the TikTok joint venture told CNBC that the platform “does not prohibit sharing the name ‘Epstein’ in messages” and said the company was investigating why some users were experiencing problems.

 

 

The concern surrounding the messaging issue relates to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender. Since December, the Department of Justice has been releasing portions of documents tied to its investigations into Epstein but has not released the entirety of the so-called “Epstein files”.

 

 

Complaints about TikTok’s handling of content have also focused on videos related to ICE. The agency has been involved in enforcement operations in Minneapolis that led to the fatal shootings of two US citizens. 

 

 

Some users posted videos flagged as “Ineligible for Recommendation”, leading to claims that anti-Trump and anti-ICE content was being restricted.

 

 

California Governor Gavin Newsom amplified these concerns, stating in a Tuesday post on X that his “office has received reports and independently confirmed instances of suppressed content critical of President Trump”.

 

 

His office said it was launching a review and asked the California Department of Justice to determine whether TikTok’s conduct violated California law. 

 

 

Hours before Newsom’s statement, TikTok posted on X that the company was “continuing to resolve” a major infrastructure issue.

 

 

“While the network has been recovered, the outage caused a cascading systems failure that we’ve been working to resolve with our data center partner,” the company said.

 

 

It added that users might notice bugs, slower load times and timeouts when posting content, and that some videos could temporarily show “0” views or likes.

 

 

When asked directly about censorship claims, including ICE-related content, a joint venture spokesperson said that videos of the Minneapolis incident were available on the platform and had been since Saturday.