TikTok's tumultuous first week in American ownership has left the social media giant reeling, with widespread criticism and allegations of censorship.
The Chinese-owned app's transfer to a US-based investor group sparked concerns about data collection and privacy, as its new owners altered the app's privacy policy to permit more extensive tracking of users. While these changes are common for major social networks, suspicion surrounding their intentions fueled paranoia among users.
Just days after the ownership change, TikTok faced technical issues that crippled multiple Oracle datacenters, causing severe outages and leaving many users unable to upload videos or access content. The app suffered significant losses in views and engagement, prompting prominent figures like Billie Eilish and comedian Meg Stalter to accuse it of stifling anti-immigration agent criticism.
The company's response to the backlash was slow, with some accusing them of censoring conservative voices. The media outlet Cosmopolitan headline "Is TikTok Censoring Anti-ICE Content?" reflected growing unease among users about the app's handling of sensitive topics.
In an effort to clarify its stance, TikTok released a statement citing technical issues due to winter weather conditions as the cause of the outages. However, this explanation did little to alleviate public criticism, and many users have since abandoned the app in favor of competitors like Upscrolled, which promises less censorship than TikTok.
TikTok's woes are reminiscent of its brief but disastrous foray into the US market last year, when it stopped functioning due to the same "sell-or-ban" law that led to its sale. The new owners may hope their problems will resolve themselves in a similar manner, but for now, user trust is in tatters.
As one former user succinctly put it: TikTok's disastrous debut in America has been a stark reminder of the perils of unchecked corporate power and the delicate balance between free speech and online security. Only time will tell if the app can recover from this rough start and regain its footing in the fiercely competitive social media landscape.
The Chinese-owned app's transfer to a US-based investor group sparked concerns about data collection and privacy, as its new owners altered the app's privacy policy to permit more extensive tracking of users. While these changes are common for major social networks, suspicion surrounding their intentions fueled paranoia among users.
Just days after the ownership change, TikTok faced technical issues that crippled multiple Oracle datacenters, causing severe outages and leaving many users unable to upload videos or access content. The app suffered significant losses in views and engagement, prompting prominent figures like Billie Eilish and comedian Meg Stalter to accuse it of stifling anti-immigration agent criticism.
The company's response to the backlash was slow, with some accusing them of censoring conservative voices. The media outlet Cosmopolitan headline "Is TikTok Censoring Anti-ICE Content?" reflected growing unease among users about the app's handling of sensitive topics.
In an effort to clarify its stance, TikTok released a statement citing technical issues due to winter weather conditions as the cause of the outages. However, this explanation did little to alleviate public criticism, and many users have since abandoned the app in favor of competitors like Upscrolled, which promises less censorship than TikTok.
TikTok's woes are reminiscent of its brief but disastrous foray into the US market last year, when it stopped functioning due to the same "sell-or-ban" law that led to its sale. The new owners may hope their problems will resolve themselves in a similar manner, but for now, user trust is in tatters.
As one former user succinctly put it: TikTok's disastrous debut in America has been a stark reminder of the perils of unchecked corporate power and the delicate balance between free speech and online security. Only time will tell if the app can recover from this rough start and regain its footing in the fiercely competitive social media landscape.
! I mean, I used to love the app, but now it just feels like they're playing with fire trying to balance their profit goals w/ user trust 
. The whole data collection thing is just creepy 
. Can't they just keep users' info private like normal? 
And don't even get me started on the outages... I was in the middle of filming a vid and suddenly it was all glitchy 
. It's like they're trying to drive people away w/ bad tech 
.
. But if they don't get their act together, I'll def be switching to Upscrolled 
. I mean, at least they're upfront about not censoring 
. Fingers crossed TikTok gets its priorities straight and starts listening to users 
. Maybe they can learn from their mistakes 
.
i heard oracle's datacenters got frozen in winter weather 
like, what even is that supposed to do with tiktok's tracking issues?! 
and now people are switching to upsclrolled or whatever... maybe it's time for a change? 
the more i think about it, the less i trust tiktok 
can they really fix this mess? 
. But at the same time, it feels like they're being super vague and evasive with their responses 
. And don't even get me started on those outages during winter weather... come on, guys, can't you just tell us what's really going on? 
.
. And honestly, a few technical issues here and there aren't a big deal - it's not like the app is down forever or anything 
.
. If people are just going to use the platform for inflammatory speech, that's on them, not TikTok 
.
. The more drama the better, I say! 
.
.
. But I'll stick around for now and see how things shake out. Guess we'll just have to wait and see if TikTok can recover from this rocky start 
. The thing is, I used to love using it to watch vids of Renegade dances 
. And now I see people accusing them of censoring conservative voices, which is just crazy 
.
. It's like, yeah, we get it, you need to collect data to run the app, but do you really have to track us that much? 
. And who knows, maybe this rough start will turn into an opportunity for them to come out stronger on the other side 
. Fingers crossed! 
? The whole "censoring conservative voices" vibe is pretty rich, tbh... like, come on guys, can't we have different perspectives without having to cancel each other 
?
... I mean, winter weather conditions as the cause of outages? 
.
! I mean, I get that they're trying to make some changes to their policy, but do they have to be so secretive about it? It's like they're hiding something from us users... Like, come on guys, just be transparent about what you're doing with our data and whatnot 
. But at the same time, you've got to give the new owners some credit for owning up (no pun intended) to their mistakes and acknowledging that there were more technical issues than just censorship.
What's up with the "technical issues" excuse for outages, didn't they do any cybersecurity audits on TikTok before buying it? 
As a student, I need apps that are reliable and trustworthy for my school projects, but now I'm not sure if TikTok can be counted on 
Maybe they should've done more research on how US regulations work before making the switch? 
and hopefully they can work on rebuilding trust with their users soon