BTS fans didnt break TikTok; a broken link did

Like all things related to popular K-pop boy band BTS, pandemonium broke out online yesterday when the group debuted a clip of their new single on TikTok, only for part of the app to stop working in response.

Not long after the clip was posted, a section of TikTok’s search function — one dedicated to looking up particular sounds, like a song track — started displaying error messages. People trying to use the specific search function, including multiple Verge staffers, were greeted with messages saying the app was unable to connect to a network. The rest of TikTok functioned properly, but BTS fans quickly started tweeting about how they broke the app by flooding the app trying to find the song.

It’s not a bad guess; the BTS “army,” as...

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