Oracle Says Weather-Induced Power Failure at Its Data Center Caused U.S. TikTok Outage; Shares Fall

Oracle Says Weather-Induced Power Failure at Its Data Center Caused U.S. TikTok Outage; Shares Fall

28 January, 20264 sources compared
Technology and Science

Key Points from 4 News Sources

  1. 1

    Weather-related power outage at an Oracle data center disrupted TikTok service for U.S. users.

  2. 2

    Widespread outage affected millions of U.S. TikTok users nationwide.

  3. 3

    Outage intensified censorship, transparency, and data-privacy concerns amid new U.S. ownership.

Full Analysis Summary

TikTok outage: cause and fixes

Oracle and TikTok's new U.S. joint venture said a widespread U.S. outage that disrupted TikTok last weekend was caused by a weather-related power failure at an Oracle data center.

Both companies reported they were working to restore service and fix lingering technical problems.

Oracle characterized the problem as a 'temporary weather-related power outage' at one of its data centers, and the joint venture said it had made 'significant progress' restoring infrastructure though some posting problems could continue.

The companies described the incident as technical rather than deliberate censorship and said they were addressing residual glitches users reported when trying to post new content.

Coverage Differences

Tone and framing

WNWN-FM (Other) and TechStock² (Other) present the outage primarily as a technical infrastructure failure and report the joint venture’s reassurance that this was not deliberate censorship, while The Plunge Daily (Asian) emphasizes the timing of the outage amid the handover and notes user speculation about political suppression—even while reporting no evidence of deliberate censorship. These outlets therefore differ in emphasis: WNWN-FM and TechStock² focus on the technical cause and progress restoring service, and The Plunge Daily foregrounds public trust and political context.

TikTok U.S. handover summary

The outage coincided with the formal handover of TikTok's U.S. operations into a newly formed U.S.-led joint venture intended to address security and political concerns.

All three snippets report the same ownership breakdown for the new U.S. entity.

Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi's MGX each hold 15%, while other U.S. and global investors hold an aggregate 80.1% and ByteDance retained a 19.9% stake under the announced deal.

The joint venture's creation and its stated purpose, to secure American user data and avert a U.S. ban, are presented as background for why the outage attracted particular scrutiny.

Coverage Differences

Narrative emphasis and context

WNWN-FM (Other) explicitly ties the joint venture to a security and political rationale — reporting that the deal was intended to "secure American user data and avert a U.S. ban" and noting that the move was praised by Trump. TechStock² (Other) also confirms the ownership split and frames the handover as context for investor scrutiny, while The Plunge Daily (Asian) highlights the timing during the handover and links it to broader trust and moderation concerns. Thus, while all sources report the ownership facts consistently, they differ in whether they emphasize political praise, investor implications, or erosion of user trust.

Outage prompts political scrutiny

The timing of the outage intensified political and user scrutiny.

The Plunge Daily emphasizes that the outage occurred as videos critical of recent ICE raids in Minnesota circulated.

It says the timing 'prompted user speculation that politically sensitive content was being suppressed,' while also noting 'No evidence of deliberate censorship has emerged.'

WNWN-FM similarly reports that California’s governor opened a review after reports of suppressed content critical of Donald Trump were independently confirmed, citing concerns about moderation.

TechStock² does not foreground censorship claims and instead highlights operational and investor implications, saying the outage drew attention because Oracle’s cloud pitch depends on high uptime.

Coverage Differences

Contrasting focus — political scrutiny vs. investor/operational focus

The Plunge Daily (Asian) foregrounds user speculation about politically sensitive suppression and specific content (videos about ICE raids), and explicitly states that "No evidence of deliberate censorship has emerged." WNWN-FM (Other) reports governmental review, noting California Gov. Gavin Newsom opened a review after reports of suppressed content critical of Donald Trump were "received and independently confirmed" by his office; TechStock² (Other) largely omits the political-suppression angle and instead stresses the outage’s implications for Oracle’s reliability pitch to customers and investors. These differences show that The Plunge Daily centers public trust and content-moderation context, WNWN-FM reports both the technical explanation and political investigations, and TechStock² treats the event primarily as an operational/investor story.

Market and reputational fallout

Investors reacted negatively to the incident.

TechStock² reports that Oracle shares slipped on the news, finishing at $172.80 on higher-than-normal volume.

TechStock² noted Oracle’s stock remains roughly 50% below its 52-week peak of $345.72, framing the outage against broader investor worries about the cost of expanding capacity for AI workloads.

WNWN-FM and The Plunge Daily link the outage to reputational and trust issues related to TikTok’s U.S. transition.

WNWN-FM recounts that the joint venture called the issues technical and not censorship.

The Plunge Daily says the episode has further eroded trust amid long-running concerns about moderation, transparency and ties to ByteDance.

Coverage Differences

Emphasis on market impact vs. trust and reputation

TechStock² (Other) centers explicit market and investor metrics — share price, volume and percentage off the 52-week peak — and frames the outage in terms of Oracle’s commercial pitch and investor worries. The Plunge Daily (Asian) instead focuses on erosion of user trust and moderation/transparency concerns for TikTok, while WNWN-FM (Other) emphasizes the joint venture’s technical explanation and the political review initiated by California’s governor. The sources therefore diverge in whether the primary consequence highlighted is market fallout (TechStock²) or trust and political scrutiny (The Plunge Daily, WNWN-FM).

Outage, posting glitches, privacy

Beyond the immediate outage, sources report two related developments that may have lasting impact: lingering posting glitches and a privacy-policy change by TikTok's new U.S. entity.

WNWN-FM and TechStock² reported that some posting problems may persist even after infrastructure restoration, warning users they might still see glitches when posting new content.

The Plunge Daily says the new U.S. entity updated its privacy policy to allow optional collection of precise location data for roughly 200 million American users (disabled by default), a detail other outlets cited in trust and privacy debates.

Coverage Differences

Coverage of privacy policy vs. operational aftereffects

The Plunge Daily (Asian) uniquely reports the privacy-policy update permitting optional collection of precise location data for about 200 million U.S. users (disabled by default), explicitly linking it to erosion of trust. WNWN-FM (Other) and TechStock² (Other) emphasize continued technical glitches and infrastructure restoration; TechStock² also emphasizes investor concerns over reliability. Thus The Plunge Daily contributes a privacy-policy detail not foregrounded in the other two snippets, while WNWN-FM and TechStock² concentrate on operational recovery and market implications.

All 4 Sources Compared

CNN

The Trump-approved US TikTok is off to a rough start

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TechStock²

Oracle stock dips after TikTok outage explanation as traders size up Fed and what’s next

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The Plunge Daily

TikTok Outage Fuels Censorship Fears as New US Owners Take Control

Read Original

WNWN-FM

Oracle says data center outage causing issues faced by US TikTok users

Read Original