TikTok app deletions rise 150% in US after new joint venture. Here's why

TikTok has set up a new US joint venture with American investors to avoid a ban; Adam Presser will lead the unit as CEO, but the move has sparked privacy concerns and a spike in app deletions

TikTok is seeing a surge in app deletions in the US days after it announced a new joint venture to run its American operations, even as overall usage on the platform remains steady.

 

Data suggests that uncertainty around privacy, outages, and lack of communication with creators has unsettled some users, triggering a short-term spike in uninstalls following the announcement.

 

Daily average uninstalls in the US have climbed nearly 150 per cent over the past five days compared with the average of the previous three months, CNBC reported, citing data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

 

TikTok said last Thursday that it had created a joint venture to ensure the app continues operating in the US under American leadership. Adam Presser, who previously led TikTok’s operations team, was named CEO of the new entity.  ALSO READ | TikTok settles social media addiction lawsuit ahead of court trial 

 

Privacy policy update fuels online backlash

 

Soon after the announcement, several users took to social media to express concern after being asked to accept an updated privacy policy.

 

Posts flagged language in the policy that outlines the types of data TikTok may collect. This includes sensitive details such as “your racial or ethnic origin” and “sexual life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration status or financial information”.

 

However, the language appears unchanged. An archived version of TikTok’s privacy policy from August 2024 contains the same provisions.

 

Some creators have publicly announced their exit from the platform. “If I can delete my biggest platform because their terms of agreement and censorship have gotten out of control, so can you!” creator Dre Ronayne posted on Threads, the micro-blogging service owned by Meta.

 

Ronayne said she had nearly 400,000 followers on TikTok before deleting her account on Sunday.

 

Others reported technical issues, including problems uploading videos and temporary service disruptions.   

 

Lack of clarity worries influencers

 

TikTok has not clearly explained to creators how the new joint venture affects them, Nadya Okamoto, a creator with over 4 million followers, told CNBC. “That’s why there is so much paranoia, because we’re all kind of looking at this platform and we just don’t know what’s happening,” she said.

 

Okamoto said she faced app issues for several days and was unable to upload videos for about 24 hours. During this period, she continued sharing content on Instagram and Google’s YouTube.

 

TikTok blames power outage for service disruption

 

An X account linked to the TikTok joint venture said on Monday that the service issues were caused by a power outage at a US data centre. “We’re working with our data center partner to stabilise our service. We’re sorry for this disruption and hope to resolve it soon,” the account wrote.

 

Despite the spike in uninstalls, TikTok’s overall activity in the US has not seen a major drop. Sensor Tower said the app’s active user levels have remained largely unchanged compared with the previous week.

 

At the same time, rival platforms have benefited from the uncertainty. US downloads of UpScrolled rose more than tenfold week on week, while Skylight Social jumped 919 per cent. Chinese-owned Rednote also recorded a 53 per cent increase in downloads during the same period.