US TikTok Deletions Surge 150% Following New Venture
TikTok is experiencing a notable increase in app deletions in the US just days after announcing a new joint venture to manage its American operations, despite overall usage on the platform holding steady. Data indicates that uncertainty regarding privacy, outages, and insufficient communication with creators has disturbed some users, leading to a temporary increase in uninstalls after the announcement. According to data, daily average uninstalls in the US have surged nearly 150 per cent over the past five days compared to the average of the previous three months. TikTok announced last Thursday the establishment of a joint venture aimed at ensuring the app’s continued operation in the US under American leadership. Adam Presser, formerly at the helm of TikTok’s operations team, has been appointed as CEO of the newly formed entity.
Soon after the announcement, numerous users turned to social media to voice their concerns regarding the request to accept an updated privacy policy. Posts highlight the language in the policy that specifies the types of data TikTok may collect. This encompasses sensitive information 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 seems to remain the same. An archived version of TikTok’s privacy policy from August 2024 retains the same provisions. Several creators have made their departure from the platform known to the public. “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 shared a post. Ronayne stated, “I had nearly 400,000 followers on TikTok” before she deleted her account on Sunday. Some individuals reported experiencing technical difficulties, such as issues with video uploads and intermittent service interruptions.
“TikTok has not clearly explained to creators how the new joint venture affects them,” Nadya Okamoto told. “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 stated. Okamoto reported experiencing app issues for several days, during which she was unable to upload videos for approximately 24 hours. Throughout this time, she maintained her presence by sharing content on Instagram and Google’s YouTube. An X account associated with the TikTok joint venture stated on Monday that the service disruptions were due to a power outage at a US data center. “We’re collaborating with our data center partner to ensure the stability of our service. We’re sorry for this disruption and hope to resolve it soon,” the account wrote.
Despite the increase in uninstalls, TikTok’s overall activity in the US has not experienced a significant decline. According to Sensor Tower, the app’s active user levels have remained largely unchanged compared with the previous week. Concurrently, competing platforms have capitalized on the prevailing uncertainty. US downloads of UpScrolled surged more than tenfold week on week, while Skylight Social experienced an impressive increase of 919 percent. Rednote, which is owned by Chinese interests, experienced a remarkable 53 per cent rise in downloads during the same timeframe.
