TikTok's been through a wild ride in the US lately. After years of ban threats over national security worries tied to its Chinese owner ByteDance, the app finally cut a deal in January 2026. Trump, who's now president, delayed the enforcement multiple times and cheered the new setup as a win for American investors. The platform spun off its US operations into TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, mostly owned by US folks like Oracle (run by Trump buddy Larry Ellison) and other investors holding about 80 percent, with ByteDance keeping a smaller slice. Trump called them "Great American Patriots" on social media.
But right after the switch on January 22, things got bumpy. Users started deleting accounts in droves, up 150 percent in just five days per Sensor Tower data. Bugs plagued the app, it went offline briefly, and new privacy terms freaked people out, especially tracking stuff like immigration status. Many felt it was collecting way more personal info than before, kinda like spyware vibes, though not exactly Pegasus-level invasive. Folks compared it to the Chinese version but said the US one hoovers even deeper into device data, contacts, location, and more.
Then came the censorship gripes. Users say videos about the fatal Minneapolis shootings of two people by ICE agents ( Alex Pretti, Renée Nicole Macklin Good ) get throttled or hidden, marked "ineligible for recommendation." Same with Epstein list mentions, even in DMs, sparking error flags for "community guidelines" breaks. Broader complaints hit "Free Palestine," Zionism, and Israel topics, building on older claims of pro-Palestine content suppression. Celebs like Billie Eilish and Megan Stalter called it out, deleted their accounts, and pushed others to follow. California Governor Newsom launched a state probe, and Dems worry the Trump-linked owners might shield his admin from criticism.
Some jumped to alternatives like UpScrolled, a Palestinian-owned app promising no censorship. TikTok says it's not blocking this stuff intentionally, and most videos stay up, but the backlash has users questioning free speech under the new guard. Is this democracy in action, or just another layer of control? The app's still hugely popular, but trust is shaky.
