TikTok’s U.S. operations were acquired by a majority-American company this week, in compliance with a September 2025 executive order issuing new terms and conditions and undating the privacy policy for the engaging social media platform. The change led to another mass exodus of users, particularly over data-collection and concern over media-control in the U.S. 

Congress initially signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in 2024, ordering ByteDance, the Beijing-based company behind TikTok’s algorithm, to completely divest from U.S. operations or face a full ban. Lawmakers cited concern for American’s data privacy and potential propaganda from foreign nations, though users claimed the popular criticisms of Trump circulating the platform as the reason for a ban. 

In response, users and creators fled the site, finding community on YouTube Shorts or Instagram reels, both U.S.-based platforms. Many, to spite lawmakers’ fears of Chinese-control of American data, went to RedNote, a Chinese-based social media. Alternatively, UpScrolled, a six-month old social media site, saw a massive 1567% jump in users in January 2026. 

The September 2025 executive order by Trump extended TikTok’s presence, and users logged onto the app that day to a “Thanks President Trump” message on their screens. While a full ban of TikTok still floats lawmakers’ desks, the executive order facilitated the sale of U.S. operations to certain, Trump-backed individuals. 

Now 80% of U.S. operations are made up of American investors, including software giant Oracle, California-based investment firm Silver Lake, United Arab Emirates investment company MGX, and a few independent investors, including Michael Dell of Dell Technologies. ByteDance will maintain about a 20% stake in U.S. operations. 

Jim Secreto, former Treasury official during the Biden administration, said, “The law requires a clean break from ByteDance. This structure doesn’t meet that standard. It looks more like a franchise deal that leaves TikTok’s core technology in China than a true divestment. By sidestepping guardrails Congress set, the national security concerns around covert data access and manipulation of the algorithm remain unresolved.”  

In other words, U.S. companies will not have complete control over TikTok and its algorithm. There will be, however, two versions of service: one received by Americans in the U.S. and one the rest of the globe receives. 

NPR reported, “One version of the service will be under the direction of an American-backed company, with additional checks and balances on content flows and data security, while a second version of the app, wholly operated by ByteDance, will be available to the rest of the world.”

The new company behind U.S. operations is now TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. The Joint Venture will be headed by a board of directors, majority Americans, including TikTok CEO Shou Chew. 

“With an American majority running the content moderation, concerns about foreign propaganda seem to have been alleviated,” said Anupam Chander, a professor of law and technology at Georgetown University who studies the regulation of new technology. “But it is possible that the American TikTok might end up censoring or hiding speech that is permissible on the global TikTok platform. I would hope that the U.S. content moderation team would allow speech that the American owners might dislike.”

The biggest investor in this deal is Oracle, a cloud computing database software company founded by Larry Ellison, one of the richest men in the world. Ellison and his son, David, have been collecting American media lately. David Ellision, owner of SkyDance, recently acquired CBS, Paramount, and all affiliated companies last year as part of a settlement agreement. 

Goerge Polisner, a former executive at Oracle, told NPR, “I think Larry is an iconoclast. He’s always been known as a swashbuckling visionary in many respects. He has, I think, an incredible appetite for access to power.” 

The Ellison family have formed an empire over American media the past year, with Trump’s support. Larry Ellison has spoken about his ideal future, in which Oracle houses all the data of a surveillance state. 

“The police will be on their best behavior because we’re constantly watching and recording everything that’s going on. Citizens will be on their best behavior because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that’s going on,” he remarked to investors.

To achieve this goal, TikTok updated its privacy terms following the acquisition, adding an embedded and unblockable A.I. chatbox feature called TikTok Tako. The app now asks for precise location information, A.I. engagement tracking, and expansions to the external ad network that targets certain users’ data.

Certain language in the privacy policy drew up red flags with users worried about TikTok gathering information to determine gender identity, racial background, medical history, sexual orientation, or immigration status. A Scripps News investigation found that this certain aspect of the privacy policy was added as early as July 2024. 

“As far as I can tell, [TikTok’s new terms of service] are totally aligned with what we see on other social media platforms,” said Sarah Kreps, director of the Tech Policy Institute. “But I do think it raises – the whole reason why we need to have trust in what we’re using, because once there’s kind of an insinuation of doubt about ownership and conflicts of interest, those kinds of questions, then I think people will put two and two together and get three and attribute whatever changes they see to some sort of politically-motivated ideology, and I think we are in a very charged moment right now.”

**Mavrie has been serving as editor for the ThunderWord since 2024. She is also the founding president of Highline’s Non-fiction Writers Circle.**