TikTok’s U.S. Ownership Shift Sparks Outages and Censorship Concerns
In a significant move to address national security concerns, TikTok has finalized an agreement to establish a new American entity, effectively averting a potential U.S. ban. This deal involves major investors such as Oracle, Silver Lake, and UAE-based MGX, forming a U.S. joint venture with stringent national security safeguards. The new version of TikTok ensures data protection, algorithm security, and moderated content for U.S. users. The app will continue functioning under the same interface, now operating with U.S. user data stored locally under Oracle management. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/eccb46c3bfee4cf3d362a01fe4968a4f?utm_source=openai))
Former TikTok operations and safety head Adam Presser will serve as CEO of the new entity, overseen by a primarily American seven-member board, including TikTok CEO Shou Chew. Former President Donald Trump, who facilitated the agreement after initially pausing a planned ban on his first day in office, publicly praised the deal. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/eccb46c3bfee4cf3d362a01fe4968a4f?utm_source=openai))
The resolution follows bipartisan U.S. legislation requiring TikTok to sever ties with Chinese parent company ByteDance, particularly concerning its algorithm. Under the agreement, ByteDance will license the algorithm to the U.S. entity for independent retraining, although restrictions remain on shared algorithm operations. ByteDance retains a 19.9% stake, with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX each holding 15%. Legal and regulatory uncertainties surrounding algorithm control persist. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/eccb46c3bfee4cf3d362a01fe4968a4f?utm_source=openai))
However, shortly after this ownership transition, TikTok experienced widespread technical issues. Users reported failed uploads, broken feeds, stalled moderation, and an algorithm that suddenly felt generic rather than personalized. These problems began early Sunday morning, January 25, according to outage tracking and reporting from tech outlets. Many U.S. users said they couldn’t upload videos, with posts stuck under review indefinitely. In some cases, videos uploaded from outside the United States appeared normally, while the same accounts showed no new content when viewed domestically. ([appleinsider.com](https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/01/26/tiktok-is-shaky-after-us-ownership-shift-reigniting-censorship-debate?utm_source=openai))
Other issues included login failures, comments that wouldn’t load, a For You Page that appeared unpersonalized, and errors across features such as CapCut. TikTok’s new U.S. entity stated that the failures were tied to a power outage at a U.S. data center and said it was working with a partner to restore service. ([appleinsider.com](https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/01/26/tiktok-is-shaky-after-us-ownership-shift-reigniting-censorship-debate?utm_source=openai))
The timing of these outages, coinciding with the ownership shift, has fueled suspicion, especially as some political content struggled to publish. No evidence shows the issues are intentional, but the outage has renewed arguments over censorship, deplatforming, and who controls what Americans see. The ownership shift makes those perceptions harder to dismiss. It’s not a transfer to neutral or unfamiliar investors. US TikTok is now owned by billionaires who are closely aligned with the Trump administration. These individuals previously pushed to ban TikTok outright because they weren’t being favored, with the federal government still viewing the platform as a national security risk. ([appleinsider.com](https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/01/26/tiktok-is-shaky-after-us-ownership-shift-reigniting-censorship-debate?utm_source=openai))
The U.S. transfer is framed as a solution to years of regulatory pressure. Federal law requires TikTok to divest from foreign adversary control or face removal from U.S. app stores. The new joint venture places private American investors in charge of public U.S. operations, allowing TikTok to remain accessible. Supporters pitch it as a compromise, protecting national security without banning a platform used by roughly 200 million Americans. ([appleinsider.com](https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/01/26/tiktok-is-shaky-after-us-ownership-shift-reigniting-censorship-debate?utm_source=openai))
But ownership isn’t the only concern. Power, influence, and political proximity became part of the conversation, and a poorly timed technical failure pushes those questions to the foreground. The divest-or-ban law doesn’t disappear after the transaction closed. Regulators still retain authority to enforce it if they conclude the new structure fails to meet legal requirements. Deplatforming remains possible in the literal sense. App stores can still be ordered to remove TikTok if the deal is deemed insufficient. Lawmakers, including the House Select Committee on China, are publicly demanding answers about ByteDance’s ongoing role and algorithm control. ([appleinsider.com](https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/01/26/tiktok-is-shaky-after-us-ownership-shift-reigniting-censorship-debate?utm_source=openai))
Complicating matters further, the new U.S. joint venture updated TikTok’s privacy policy shortly after the deal closed. The revised terms allow the company to collect precise location data from American users, depending on device settings, expanding beyond the approximate location data previously collected. According to BBC reporting, the updated policy also broadens data collection tied to user interactions with TikTok’s AI tools, including prompts and usage patterns. While users can opt out by disabling location services, the change arrives at the worst possible moment for public trust. ([appleinsider.com](https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/01/26/tiktok-is-shaky-after-us-ownership-shift-reigniting-censorship-debate?utm_source=openai))
For critics who already worry about surveillance and influence, the optics are terrible. Protesters in the U.S. may find that there are better options than TikTok to record instances of government abuse. ByteDance retains a minority stake just under 20% and continues licensing key technology, according to reporting on the finalized structure of the joint venture. The joint venture says U.S. partners oversee data security and retraining of the recommendation algorithm, with infrastructure hosted in U.S.-based cloud systems. ([appleinsider.com](https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/01/26/tiktok-is-shaky-after-us-ownership-shift-reigniting-censorship-debate?utm_source=openai))
Much of the current debate collapses two separate issues into one. Deplatforming refers to regulatory action that removes TikTok from app stores entirely. Censorship refers to claims that speech is suppressed inside the platform. Those claims remain largely unproven and are harder to evaluate. For users, TikTok remains online, but its future looks less stable than the deal suggests. For creators and advertisers, uncertainty is a problem because visibility, reach, and revenue depend on systems now under heightened scrutiny. The transfer solves one problem and exposes several others. Between unresolved regulatory pressure, expanded data collection, opaque moderation systems, and a rocky technical rollout, the platform remains a flashpoint for deplatforming and censorship debates. Until ownership, control, and enforcement are clearer, TikTok continues to sit in political limbo, regardless of who technically owns it. ([appleinsider.com](https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/01/26/tiktok-is-shaky-after-us-ownership-shift-reigniting-censorship-debate?utm_source=openai))
