American TikTok users are deleting the app after US deal under new owners: This is the reason

TikTok has finally transitioned from a Chinese company to a majority US-owned app, and a report has indicated that users are not happy. Citing new data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, CNBC has reported that the high-profile deal to ‘save’ TikTok in the US has triggered a backlash with an increase in deletion of app by the daily average of US users. The publication says that in the five days following the announcement of a new American-led joint venture, users deleting the TikTok app has surged by nearly 150% compared to the previous three months.The report claims that the exodus began shortly after the newly-formed TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC prompted users to agree to an updated privacy policy. Some users quickly flagged language regarding the collection of sensitive data. As per the new policy, TikTok may collect data, including sensitive information such as “your racial or ethnic origin” as well as “sexual life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration status, or financial information”. The report says that while this language has actually been present in TikTok’s policy since at least August 2024, its fueled a narrative of increased surveillance under the new American owners.“If I can delete my biggest platform because their terms of agreement and censorship have gotten out of control, so can you!” posted a creator Dre Ronayne, who walked away from nearly 400,000 followers on Sunday.Meanwhile, over the last two days, users and creators have reported widespread outages and failed video uploads. An X (formerly known as Twitter) account associated with the joint venture attributed the service issues to a power outage at a US data centre.“We’re working with our data center partner to stabilize our service. We’re sorry for this disruption and hope to resolve it soon,” the account wrote.Sensor Tower data also suggests that TikTok’s active user levels in the US have remained relatively flat compared with the previous week.