TikTok Bounces Back: User Engagement Rebounds After U.S. Ownership Shift
In the wake of a significant ownership transition, TikTok has successfully regained its user engagement levels in the United States. The brief decline that followed the acquisition by a consortium of American investors had initially led to a surge in popularity for competing video-sharing platforms such as UpScrolled and Skylight Social.
Data from digital market intelligence firm Similarweb indicates that TikTok’s daily active users in the U.S. dipped to approximately 86-88 million immediately after the ownership change, down from its usual average of 92 million. However, the platform has since rebounded, now boasting over 90 million daily active users, suggesting that many users who had temporarily left have returned.
During TikTok’s brief downturn, alternative platforms experienced notable growth. UpScrolled reached a peak of 138,500 daily active users on January 28, though this number has since decreased to 68,000. Similarly, Skylight Social saw its daily active users climb to 81,200, before settling at 56,300. Overall, Skylight Social reported a total of 380,000 user sign-ups by late January.
The initial decline in TikTok’s usage was not solely due to the change in ownership but was also influenced by user concerns over the platform’s updated privacy policy. The new policy included provisions for tracking users’ precise GPS locations, which some speculated was related to TikTok’s testing of a Nearby feed aimed at showcasing local content. Additionally, the policy’s mention of collecting users’ immigration status raised alarms. However, this language was included to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which mandates that businesses disclose the collection of certain sensitive data.
Compounding these issues, TikTok experienced a multi-day data center outage caused by a winter storm-induced power failure at an Oracle-operated facility. This outage disrupted core features such as content posting, discovery, and real-time display of video likes and view counts. Users misinterpreted these technical glitches as potential censorship, prompting some to explore alternative platforms. The company announced on February 1 that the service had been fully restored.
As these technical and policy-related concerns were addressed, users returned to TikTok, restoring its daily active user count to over 90 million. Despite this recovery, Similarweb notes a gradual decline in TikTok’s usage over the latter part of 2025, with daily active users peaking at 100 million from July to October, compared to the current figures.
