By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer

Censorship claims, technical problems and a report of a surge in app deletions are just some of the challenges TikTok is facing as it adjusts to a new ownership structure in the United States that was finalized last week.

The company said Monday it was experiencing a “major infrastructure issue triggered by a power outage” at one of its U.S. data center partner sites. The outage led to bugs such as creators temporarily seeing zero views on their videos even if people had looked at them, as well as slow load times and timeout requests when posting videos.

On Tuesday, TikTok said it had made significant progress restoring services though users could still see glitches while using the popular video sharing app.

At the same time, users were raising concerns that the company is “censoring” videos, including ones critical of President Donald Trump, ICE or mentions of Jeffrey Epstein. The complaints were enough for California Gov. Gavin Newsom to announce on X Monday that he is launching a review into whether TikTok is violating state law by censoring Trump-critical content.

Jamie Favazza, a spokesperson for TikTok’s new U.S. joint venture, said it is inaccurate to say that the problems users have been encountering are “anything but the technical issues we’ve transparently confirmed.”

Still, the technical problems combined with the ties that some of the new owners have to Trump bristled some U.S. users just enough to delete the app. Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower said Tuesday that daily average app uninstalls grew 130% from Jan. 22 to Jan. 26 compared with the previous 30 days. However, daily average users still increased by 2% in the same period, which Sensor Tower says suggests the uninstalls had little effect on overall usage. And while TikTok lagged YouTube and Instagram in U.S. user growth, people spent more time on the platform than its rivals.

Minda Smiley, a social media analyst at research firm Emarketer, noted that ownership change did just happen and that TikTok is going through a lot of infrastructure-related shifts, which can lead to technical issues. But if there are still problems with certain videos not uploading, or the censorship claims persist, TikTok could see bigger issues down the line.

“Optics and perceptions are really important in situations like this, so I would stay like regardless of what’s actually happening, if people do feel as if content is being suppressed or content is difficult to upload or is being moderated or whatever it might be, that’s enough reason for a lot of users to flee or to stop using TikTok or to say they’re going to stop using TikTok,” she said.

That being said, “what users say and do is often different,” she added. After all, it was only a year ago that TikTok users were flocking to RedNote, a Chinese social media app, to protest a potential TikTok ban. The protest didn’t last and RedNote doesn’t see much discussion in the U.S. these days.

“Still, I think my point still stands that if this continues and people do feel as if the algorithm is changing, the content is changing, it certainly presents a challenge for TikTok,” Smiley added.

Cade Tyson’s ankle injury will likely keep him out when the Gophers play Wisconsin on Wednesday at Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

“He’s probably doubtful,” head coach Niko Medved told the Pioneer Press on Tuesday. “I don’t think that is probably going to happen. Hopefully, it’s nothing long-term, but we will keep evaluating and we will take it day by day.”

Tyson, who is third in the Big Ten at 20.1 points per game, injured his ankle in the second half of the 76-57 loss to then-No. 7 Nebraska at Williams Arena on Saturday. He went to the locker room for treatment and returned to the bench but didn’t re-enter the game. The Cornhuskers took further control when the key U player went down.

The Gophers (10-10, 3-6 Big Ten) have lost five straight and already have four scholarship players out, including two starters in point guard Chansey Willis Jr. and center Robert Vaihola.

Minnesota has been using a seven-man rotation and it will go down to six players without Tyson, who has started all 20 games. The transfer from North Carolina averages a team-high 35.9 minutes per game, while adding 5.5 rebounds per contest.

Reserves Grayson Grove and Kai Shinholster are candidates to move into the starting lineup. Both of those freshman will likely have to play many more minutes.

“We are running on fumes,” Medved said. “We will have to look at some different lineups and things like that. … Could we get some minutes potentially out of Max Gizzi and Nehemiah (Turner)? Some of those could be on the table, depending on matchups and where we are at in the game.”

The Badgers (14-6, 6-3) beat Minnesota on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from John Blackwell in a 78-75 win at The Barn on Jan. 13.

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By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and VALERIE GONZALEZ

A federal judge has issued a temporary order prohibiting removal of a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father whose arrest last week in Minnesota quickly become another lightning rod for America’s divisions on immigration under the Trump administration.

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U.S. Judge Fred Biery ruled Monday that any removal or transfer of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, is on hold while a court case proceeds.

The father and son are now at family detention facility in Dilley, Texas, near San Antonio.

They were taken into custody last week outside their home in Minnesota. Neighbors and school officials say that federal immigration officers used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer.

The Department of Homeland Security has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.

Ramos’ attorney, Jennifer Scarborough, didn’t immediately respond to phone or email messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. The Department of Homeland Security sent a response only reiterating their version of events, insisting they did not arrest or target the child. Their statement did not address the judge’s court order.

Federal officials have said the father was in the U.S. illegally, without offering details. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, said the man entered the country in December 2024.

The family’s attorney said he had a pending asylum claim allowing him to stay in the country.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi is asking people to file a police report if they believe they’ve been a victim of a felony at the hands of federal agents in St. Paul or suburban Ramsey County.

The sheriff’s office already has one active investigation and two preliminary investigations, including ICE taking a 57-year-old Hmong man who is a naturalized U.S. citizen from his St. Paul home handcuffed and into freezing temperatures wearing only boxer shorts, Crocs and a blanket. Another case is of a 23-year-old Somali-American woman, who was born in Minnesota, and was detained by ICE for two days, said Sheriff Bob Fletcher.

For people in law enforcement and in prosecution, “one of our primary responsibilities is to protect and serve our residents, and we should be doing everything that we can to seek the truth about allegations of felonious conduct of federal agents,” Choi said in a Tuesday interview. “… There’s allegations of kidnapping, false imprisonment, assaults.”

Choi met with Ramsey County law enforcement agencies and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Monday about “the unprecedented rise in federal law enforcement activity” related to immigration enforcement.

If members of the public believe they witness a felony crime involving federal law enforcement or are victims of such in Ramsey County, including in the recent past, “we wanted to make it clear that we should be taking police reports,” Choi said.

People should call 911 or their police department’s non-emergency phone number to make a report. Based on the evidence, law enforcement “may investigate and, if warranted, refer the case” to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office to review the evidence and determine if charges are warranted, Choi wrote in a Tuesday memo to Ramsey County’s law enforcement leaders about taking such reports.

“There are limits to ICE authority, just like there are limits to ours as a sheriff’s office when you exceed your authority,” Fletcher said. “… There are checks and balances to hold all law enforcement accountable,” including “local local law enforcement and local laws.”

Choi: No one is ‘above the law’

Tuesday’s memo is a step farther than a request that Choi issued two weeks ago when he asked that, if a federal officer shoots someone in St. Paul or Ramsey County, local law enforcement independently secure evidence and immediately call in the BCA.

But the BCA has been blocked from investigating the recent fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

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A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order brought by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison against the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies, preventing them from altering or destroying evidence related to the fatal shooting Saturday of Pretti by DHS agents in Minneapolis.

In amended guidance issued by Choi Tuesday, he said the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office has agreed to assist all law enforcement agencies in the county in securing a shooting scene.

“No federal, state, or local government agency is above the law,” Choi wrote in Tuesday’s memo about investigating felonies. “While federal agents may act pursuant to federal authority, that authority is not unlimited. … Authority exercised by all law enforcement officers (federal, state, or local) operating within Minnesota must be lawful and consistent with these constraints.”