American users of the newly incorporated TikTok US are quickly deleting the app days after a deal spinning it off from its Chinese owners, with many citing concerns about censorship, privacy, and changes to its algorithm.
Over the last five days, the daily average number of US users uninstalling TikTok jumped by almost 150% as compared to the last three months, CNBC reported citing data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
CNBC reported that many users had expressed concern about the language of the app’s updated privacy policy, which said TikTok will collect data such as “your racial or ethnic origin” as well as “sexual life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration status, or financial information.”
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That language is not new, however, CNBC reported, adding that similar policies existed as far back as in 2024.
But behind the increasing scepticism of the app’s American users have been a range of issues that started almost as soon as TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, sealed a deal last week to establish a majority American-owned joint venture.
The agreement provided for American and global investors to hold 80.1% of the venture with ByteDance’s ownership reduced to 19.9%.
The move was a result of years of concern from China hawks about Beijing’s access to data from the app’s 200 million American users. TikTok previously denied Beijing had access to that data.
Censorship fears
Following the handover, however, users started suspecting heavy censorship on the app. Some users said they could no longer upload videos criticising raids by the US’ anti-immigration ICE agents. Users said their videos simply wouldn’t upload to the app, especially over the weekend amid surging uproar over ICE activities that involved the killing of an American nurse.
Some other users said they were unable to write the word ‘Epstein’ in private messages sent over TikTok, referring to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier convicted of human trafficking and other serious offences. Files involving Epstein’s clientele have been a key source of tension in the US, amid concerns and allegations that they could connect him to US President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, tech platform The Verge debunked claims of Epstein-related censorship on TikTok saying it was able to send messages mentioning his name. The platform also noted it faced several glitches while messaging through the platform, adding that they were actually linked to the fact that TikTok was largely down in the US.
In a statement over the weekend, TikTok US also said it was not censoring posts and that user issues were linked to a massive data centre outage that was disrupting the app. Late on Monday, TikTok US posted a statement on X saying that while the issue was now resolved it “caused a cascading systems failure” and that user experience would continue to be impacted.
An update on our work to restore and stabilize TikTok. pic.twitter.com/PZzsuFeZmj
— TikTok USDS Joint Venture (@tiktokusdsjv) January 26, 2026
Meanwhile, other users said on social media that their decision to remove the app was just the result of a changed algorithm. “It’s just like YouTube shorts slop. Random people talking about sports, winter storm, McDonald’s hacks. Used to be really niche art stuff, philosophy, edgy music, outfits, movie recommendations, books,” one user wrote on Reddit.
“It’s really insane how obvious the switch was.”
Push to investigate
Despite the variety of issues affecting TikTok right now, the timing — specifically days afters the US takeover — has fuelled huge scepticism about the app’s new owners.
Users have expressed concern over their data being collected by buyers close to the Trump Administration while others have said they do not believe that a tech outage could cause so much chaos.
On Monday, California state governor Gavin Newsom also accused TikTok of suppressing content critical of Trump. Newsom said he was launching a review to decide if its content moderation practices violated state law.
It’s time to investigate.
I am launching a review into whether TikTok is violating state law by censoring Trump-critical content. https://t.co/AZ2mWW68xa
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) January 27, 2026
“Following TikTok’s sale to a Trump-aligned business group, our office has received reports, and independently confirmed instances, of suppressed content critical of President Trump,” Newsom’s office said on X, without elaborating.
“Gavin Newsom is launching a review of this conduct and is calling on the California Department of Justice to determine whether it violates California law,” it added.
In response to Reuters, a TikTok representative pointed to a prior statement that blamed a data center power outage, adding, “It would be inaccurate to report that this is anything but the technical issues we’ve transparently confirmed.”
- Vishakha Saxena
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