{"id":208860,"date":"2026-02-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/01\/its-really-sad-us-tiktok-users-rethink-app-over-concerns-about-privacy-and-censorship-tiktok\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T12:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T17:20:08","slug":"its-really-sad-us-tiktok-users-rethink-app-over-concerns-about-privacy-and-censorship-tiktok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/01\/its-really-sad-us-tiktok-users-rethink-app-over-concerns-about-privacy-and-censorship-tiktok\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s really sad\u2019: US TikTok users rethink app over concerns about privacy and censorship | TikTok"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018It\u2019s really sad\u2019: US TikTok users rethink app over concerns about privacy and censorship | TikTok<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2026\/feb\/01\/tiktok-users-app-privacy-terms-conditions<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-02-01 12:00:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n

M<\/span>any TikTok users across the US say they\u2019re rethinking their relationship with the platform since its ownership and terms and conditions have recently changed, with some citing censorship and lack of trust as reasons why they\u2019re removing themselves from the app.<\/p>\n

Keara Sullivan, a 26-year-old comedian, says TikTok jumpstarted her career and provided a pathway to getting a manager and a literary agent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not one of those creators who\u2019s a TikTok hater,\u201d said Sullivan, who has more than half a million followers on the platform. \u201cI\u2019m very transparent about the fact that where I am in my career is largely because of TikTok.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, she said, it\u2019s \u201creally sad\u201d for her to step away from the platform \u2013 at least for now.<\/p>\n

TikTok, the short-form video platform owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has faced scrutiny after the decision to create a new US-based entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture, in an effort to avoid being banned in the country. Investors in the majority US-owned venture include Oracle, which is owned by Trump ally Larry Ellison, the private equity-group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi\u2019s MGX, who will own 80.1% of the new entity. ByteDance will own the remaining 19.9%.<\/p>\n

The announcement was made five years after Donald Trump first threatened to ban the popular app in the US during his first term in office.<\/p>\n

TikTok\u2019s new deal has been accompanied by changes to app\u2019s terms and conditions, reports of technical issues and a growing debate among users and creators about privacy and censorship. The daily average of US users deleting the TikTok app has increased 195% from 22 Januaryto 28 January compared to the previous 90 days, according to data collected by Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm.<\/p>\n

Many social media users have voiced concern over language in the app\u2019s terms and conditions, which specifically point out the types of data that TikTok may collect on its users, including \u201cracial and ethnic origin\u201d and \u201csexual life or…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018It\u2019s really sad\u2019: US TikTok users rethink app over concerns about privacy and censorship |…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":208861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/e9fed6a45b8d7d9048eb816ad9067c9c66091fd3\/501_0_4999_3999\/master\/4999.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=5850e224d2c2a10f33bc668beeb00c9c","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208862,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208860\/revisions\/208862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}