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Since information broke in late January that TikTok’s U.S. operations would transfer beneath American-led possession, many individuals who beforehand prevented the app are reconsidering. The shift has reopened conversations amongst mother and father, educators and older adults who as soon as seen TikTok as off-limits due to international possession considerations.
One reader summed up that hesitation clearly in an electronic mail we acquired. It displays a query many households are asking proper now.
“I read a summary of the approved joint venture deal between China (20%) and U.S. Investors (80%). We do not have a TikTok account at this time. We’ve been following through the media about the helpful shorts and are considering opening an account, once the deal is consummated and control of accounts is in the hands of the U.S. side. Yet, we are not techies and are still concerned about the security of said accounts.”
That concern is comprehensible. For years, TikTok raised respectable questions on international possession, information entry and nationwide safety. Those considerations have been severe sufficient to set off authorities bans, lawsuits and sturdy warnings to households. Now, that chapter has shifted. TikTok’s U.S. operations now sit beneath a U.S.-led possession construction, with American buyers holding a controlling curiosity and operational authority. That change issues. But it doesn’t routinely change how the platform behaves. The extra helpful query at present is just not whether or not TikTok is allowed. It is how to use it correctly, with clear boundaries and higher controls, particularly for youths and teenagers. That is what this information is about.
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TikTok’s shift to U.S.-led possession has mother and father and older adults reconsidering the app after years of safety considerations tied to international management. (Kayla Bartkowski/ Los Angeles Times through Getty Images)
What the US possession change really improves
It is vital to acknowledge what’s completely different now.
US governance and management
TikTok’s U.S. operations are not managed by a China-based mum or dad firm. This removes the danger of direct entry beneath Chinese nationwide safety legal guidelines.
Stronger regulatory oversight
The platform now operates beneath U.S. privateness expectations, enforcement requirements and congressional scrutiny. That brings clearer guardrails round information dealing with.
Clear accountability
When one thing goes fallacious, duty sits in a single jurisdiction. There isn’t any ambiguity about who solutions for it. That is significant progress, particularly for households who prevented TikTok fully due to considerations about possession.
What TikTok says the new US construction safeguards
TikTok says its U.S. operations now run by TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, a majority American-owned entity created beneath an government order signed on Sept. 25, 2025. According to the firm, the three way partnership is designed to defend U.S. consumer information, safe the advice algorithm and oversee belief and security selections for American customers. TikTok says U.S. consumer information is saved in Oracle’s safe U.S.-based cloud atmosphere and protected by a complete privateness and cybersecurity program that’s audited and licensed by third-party specialists.
The firm additionally says the advice algorithm used for U.S. customers is retrained, examined and secured inside the United States. TikTok provides that the three way partnership has decision-making authority over belief and security insurance policies and content material moderation for U.S. customers, with ongoing transparency reporting and impartial oversight. These safeguards deal with the place information is saved, who governs it and how programs are audited, not on eliminating information assortment or personalization.
What has not changed in any respect
Here is the half many individuals overlook.
Even with new possession, TikTok nonetheless operates on the identical core enterprise mannequin as each main social media platform.
- It tracks what you watch and how lengthy you watch.
- It learns your pursuits and habits.
- It makes use of that info to form your feed and goal promoting.
TikTok stays exceptionally efficient at this. Its advice system adapts shortly, which explains each its reputation and its affect. That energy makes privateness settings extra vital than ever.
A better method to use TikTok as a household
Pretending TikTok doesn’t exist not often works. Kids hear about it from buddies. Adults see helpful movies shared throughout different platforms. A greater method is to arrange deliberately from the begin. The steps beneath don’t wreck the expertise. They merely scale back pointless publicity and give households extra management.
Step 1: Stop TikTok from accessing your contacts
Limiting contact entry prevents TikTok from mapping your private community.
How to flip off Contacts and Facebook syncing
- Open the TikTok app
- Tap your profile in the backside proper
- Tap the three-line menu in the high proper
- Select Settings and Privacy
- Click Privacy
- Tap Sync Contacts and Facebook Friends
- Toggle each choices off so they seem grey
Why this issues
When contact syncing is on, TikTok can study who you understand, even when these folks by no means use the app. Turning it off limits how the platform connects your account to real-world relationships, reduces account recommendations tied to your telephone e-book and helps hold your private community from turning into a part of TikTok’s information profile.
Step 2: Reduce advert concentrating on
You will nonetheless see advertisements. They will rely much less on exercise exterior TikTok.
How to disable off-TikTok advert monitoring
- Open the TikTok app
- Go to your profile in the backside proper of the display screen
- Click the three-line menu in the higher proper
- Tap Settings and Privacy
- Scroll to Ads and faucet it
- Under Manage your off-TikTok information, toggle Targeted advertisements exterior of TikTok off so it turns grey
- If obtainable, additionally toggle Targeted advertisements off to additional restrict personalization
Why this issues
Turning these off reduces how TikTok makes use of information collected past the app to personalize promoting. You will nonetheless see advertisements, however they are going to be much less intently tied to your searching and app exercise elsewhere.
Step 3: Make your account non-public
This step is very vital for youths and teenagers. A non-public account limits who can view content material, remark and work together.
How to make your account non-public
- Open the TikTok app
- Go to your profile in the backside proper of the display screen
- Click the three-line menu in the higher proper
- Tap Settings and Privacy
- Click Privacy
- Toggle Private Account on so it turns blue
- Toggle Activity Status off so it turns grey
Why this issues
A non-public account places you accountable for who can view your content material and work together with you. This is very vital for youths and teenagers, since it reduces publicity to strangers, spam accounts and undesirable messages.
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Families weighing TikTok now face a brand new query: how to use the platform safely, even beneath American oversight. (Kayla Bartkowski/ Los Angeles Times through Getty Images)
Step 4: Control how folks can discover you
TikTok suggests accounts based mostly on contacts, telephone numbers and shared connections except you cease it.
How to flip off account recommendations
- Open the TikTok app
- Go to your profile in the backside proper of the display screen
- Tap the three-line menu in the higher proper
- Tap Settings and Privacy
- Click Privacy
- Tap Suggest Your Account to Others
- Turn off all choices
Why this issues
Account recommendations are sometimes pushed by telephone numbers, contacts and shared connections. Turning these off makes it tougher for TikTok to hyperlink your account to your offline identification or floor it to folks you didn’t select to join with.
Step 5: Hide what you want and observe
Likes and follows ship alerts about your pursuits and habits. Keeping them non-public provides one other layer of safety.
How to cover your exercise
- Open the TikTok app
- Go to your profile in the backside proper of the display screen
- Tap the three-line menu in the higher proper
- Tap Settings and Privacy
- Click Privacy
- Tap Following List beneath Interactions
- Set it to Only you
Why this issues
Likes and follows reveal pursuits, habits and patterns over time. Keeping them non-public limits how a lot others can infer about you and reduces the information alerts TikTok can amplify throughout the platform.
Step 6: Download your TikTok information
This step typically modifications how folks view the platform.
How to request your TikTok information
- Open the TikTok app
- Go to your profile in the backside proper of the display screen
- Tap the three-line menu in the higher proper
- Tap Settings and Privacy
- Tap Account
- Tap Download Your Data
- Under Request information, assessment the sorts of info included and click on the field subsequent to it or choose all
- Choose a file format
- Tap Request information
TikTok will start making ready your file. This course of sometimes takes a couple of days. Once your information is prepared, you need to return to the Download information tab to retrieve it. The obtain hyperlink expires after a brief window, so test again recurrently.
Why this issues
Requesting your information exhibits the full scope of what TikTok shops about your account, from exercise patterns to interplay historical past. Seeing that info firsthand helps you resolve whether or not the degree of monitoring aligns with how you need to use the platform.
Pro tip: Protect your self past app settings
Privacy settings assist, however they can not cease all the things. Social media platforms like TikTok are frequent supply factors for malicious hyperlinks, pretend giveaways and look-alike login pages designed to steal passwords or set up malware. Using sturdy, up-to-date antivirus software program provides a essential layer of safety by blocking harmful websites and downloads earlier than a single click on turns into an issue. This safety may warn you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, holding your private info and digital property secure.
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(Photo Illustration by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto through Getty Images)
Kurt’s key takeaways
TikTok says new safeguards defend the place U.S. information lives and who controls it. Your private settings nonetheless decide how a lot information exists in the first place. Ownership modifications scale back sure dangers, however they don’t change private duty. Privacy on TikTok relies upon much more on how you configure it than who owns it. If you might be contemplating opening an account now that management sits with U.S. buyers, begin sluggish, lock down the settings and assessment your information early. That method retains you in management moderately than the algorithm.
If a platform is aware of this a lot about you, how a lot entry are you actually comfy giving it? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
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Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of expertise, gear and devices that make life higher together with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business starting mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech query? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a narrative concept or remark at CyberGuy.com.
