People are deleting TikTok right now mainly because of new U.S.-controlled ownership, updated data/privacy terms, and growing fears about censorship and government influence on the app.

Quick Scoop: What Changed?

TikTok’s U.S. operations have been moved into a new joint‑venture company, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, created to comply with an executive order from President Donald Trump about national security and data concerns.

This joint venture is majority American‑owned, with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX as major investors, while ByteDance keeps a minority stake.

Users got hit with new in‑app pop‑ups about updated terms of service and a refreshed U.S. privacy policy in late January 2026, right after the new ownership was announced.

That timing made a lot of people feel like “the app changed overnight,” even though some of the legal language existed in earlier versions of the policy.

“Today could be the day TikTok changes forever,” one viral Instagram post said as people discussed deleting accounts after the new policy and ownership shift.

Main Reasons People Are Deleting TikTok

1. Data privacy and “creepy” permissions

Many users are uncomfortable with how much data TikTok says it can collect and use, especially in the updated U.S. privacy policy.

Key worries include:

  • Collection of detailed personal data (location, device data, browsing behavior).
  • Mention of sensitive categories like racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, and financial information.
  • Expanded use of data for targeted ads and cross‑platform tracking beyond just the TikTok app.

Some creators say that when they saw the new pop‑ups about terms and privacy, that was their “last straw” and they immediately deleted the app.

2. Fear of censorship and political influence

Oracle, a major investor in the new U.S. TikTok venture, is led by Larry Ellison, who is publicly aligned with Trump, and that connection is freaking out a chunk of the user base.

Critics, especially on the left, worry that a platform so central to youth culture could start quietly suppressing content that’s politically inconvenient to those investors or to the administration.

Current concerns people are posting about:

  • Claims that political content, especially criticism of government agencies like ICE, is being taken down or throttled more aggressively.
  • Suspicion that recent glitches and outages affecting politically charged videos are not “just bugs,” even though there’s no hard proof.
  • A broader fear that TikTok could slowly become more sanitized and less friendly to protest, activism, or “controversial” topics.

Some users have explicitly called the new setup “government surveillance” and say they don’t want their political views and location data intertwined on a platform perceived as closer to the U.S. government.

3. Outages, bugs, and creator frustration

Around the time the joint venture was announced, TikTok had service issues: uploads failing, videos not posting, and app glitches that made it feel unstable.

An account linked to the joint venture blamed a power outage at a U.S. data center, but the timing right after the ownership change fueled paranoia.

Creators have reported:

  • Not being able to upload for 24 hours or more.
  • Seeing views drop and engagement behave strangely.
  • Feeling totally in the dark about what the new ownership means for their income and reach.

For some full‑time creators, this uncertainty is enough to push them toward Instagram, YouTube, or newer “alt” apps.

4. Reaction to the U.S. TikTok “ban drama” and its aftermath

TikTok was actually under a formal nationwide U.S. ban for a period, driven by long‑running concerns about China, ByteDance, and national security.

The new joint venture and ownership structure are the compromise that allowed TikTok to keep running in the U.S., but not everyone sees that as a win.

Some people feel:

  • The app is now too closely tied to U.S. political power, regardless of party.
  • The whole saga (ban threats, forced sale, executive orders) shows how vulnerable the platform is to government pressure.
  • It’s safer to build their online life on platforms that don’t feel like a political battlefield—whether or not that’s actually true.

5. Trend effect: once deleting becomes a “thing,” it snowballs

There’s the serious political/privacy side, and then there’s the pure trend side. You’re seeing:

  • Threads and Instagram posts where users proudly announce “I deleted my TikTok, you should too.”
  • New Year’s resolution‑style posts about quitting TikTok to improve mental health, productivity, and anxiety levels.
  • A mini migration toward alternative apps whose download numbers spiked after the TikTok drama—some have seen 10x growth in a week.

So even people who aren’t deeply into policy talk may delete the app because their friends or favorite creators did, or because it now “feels off.”

Are actually “everyone” deleting TikTok?

No—usage is still huge, but uninstall numbers have clearly jumped.

  • U.S. daily deletions have reportedly surged by around 150% compared to the previous three‑month average.
  • Despite that, overall U.S. active usage has stayed relatively stable so far, meaning many people are sticking around.
  • Competing apps (including smaller social platforms) are seeing massive percentage‑growth in downloads as users test alternatives.

So it’s more accurate to say: a visible wave of users and creators are deleting TikTok or taking breaks, but the app is still very far from “dead.”

Different viewpoints people have

People deleting TikTok say

  • “I don’t trust the new data and privacy setup.”
  • “I’m worried about censorship or government influence.”
  • “The app is glitchy, unstable, and not worth the stress.”
  • “I want my mental health and time back, and this drama is a good excuse to quit.”

People staying on TikTok say

  • The app has survived drama before, and this is just another policy wave.
  • Other platforms also collect tons of data; TikTok is not unique there.
  • Their audiences, income, and communities are still strongest on TikTok, so leaving would hurt their work.
  • They want to wait and see how the new U.S. setup actually plays out.

Mini HTML table: Key reasons people say they’re deleting

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Reason</th>
      <th>What people are worried about</th>
      <th>Where this shows up</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Data & privacy changes</td>
      <td>Expanded data collection, sensitive info in policy, more targeting and tracking</td>
      <td>Updated U.S. privacy policy and in-app prompts after Jan 22, 2026</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Political influence & censorship</td>
      <td>New American investors tied to Trump, fears of content suppression</td>
      <td>Debates over ownership, claims of anti-ICE or political content being limited</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Glitches & outages</td>
      <td>Failed uploads, app instability around the ownership transition</td>
      <td>Reports of outages linked to a U.S. data center incident</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Ban saga fatigue</td>
      <td>Long-running fights over bans, executive orders, forced sale</td>
      <td>History of U.S. efforts to restrict or reshape TikTok</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Trend & mental health</td>
      <td>Following creators and friends who delete, wanting less doomscrolling</td>
      <td>Forum posts, New Year’s resolutions, productivity and wellness communities</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

If you’re deciding what to do

If you’re wondering whether to delete TikTok yourself, you can ask:

  1. How comfortable are you with the kind of data TikTok collects and how it might be used under the new setup? (Check the latest policy details.)
  1. Do you rely on TikTok for income, friends, or community more than other platforms?
  2. Would your mental health or productivity improve if you stepped away, at least as a test run, like some users are doing for 2026 resolutions?

You don’t have to do what “everyone” online says they’re doing; you can treat this moment as a chance to reset your own boundaries with the app.

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.