TikTok appears to be experiencing some issues and this has led to #TikTokDown trending on other social media platforms, including Twitter. While TikTok has come under criticism throughout 2020, the pressure on the service has intensified in recent days and weeks, leading to some wondering whether TikTok being down is related, or just a temporary service disruption.
TikTok was previously banned in India as part of a retaliation to China. This immediately led to some wondering whether the likes of the US and the UK could implement a similar ban. Further adding to the speculation, last week has seen more than one comment by the US government suggesting a TikTok ban is a possibility in the future.
Today, many users are reporting issues with TikTok and this has resulted in #TikTokDown trending on Twitter. Some are finding that when they open the app or access the website, many of the videos have no likes or views. To be clear, the number of users reporting on this is extremely high, and in a very short space of time. Further adding to the situation, DownDetector is showing a sudden and massive spike in TikTok-related complaints from users.
What’s Happening With TikTok & Is It Related To A Ban
To highlight the extent to the issue, Charli D’Amelio is currently one of the most popular TikTokkers on the platform and with close to 70 million followers, D’Amelio’s videos typically attract plenty of likes and dislikes. Yet, the app is currently showing that all of D’Amelio’s recent videos currently have zero views and likes. Again, this is not just an issue affecting some content creators, but many. Interestingly, not all seem to be affected, considering the highly popular AhiChallenge video from @justmaiko still shows more than 25 million likes. Another notable point is that comments seem to have remained unaffected.
Right now, it remains unclear what is causing the issues with TikTok, although there’s no suggestion that it is related to the recent threats of a ban. What is possibly happening is that there is an issue with the service’s algorithm and especially as the lack of likes and views is only one of the user complaints currently doing the rounds. For example, others have also suggested recommendations are being affected, and the app itself seems to generally be responding slow to user actions.
When talking the various complaints together, it is clear that there is an issue with the app, and possibly the algorithm. Although how long TikTok remains down for, or what exactly is causing the unusual issue, remains to be seen.
