TikTok’s newly formed United States joint venture has expanded data collection permissions to include precise location information from its 200 million American users, marking a shift from previous policies that limited gathering to approximate location data.
The updated privacy policy was published after investors finalized a deal with ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, on Thursday to operate the short form video platform’s American business through a new corporate structure. The revised terms state the company may now collect precise location data depending on user settings, a departure from earlier provisions allowing only approximate location gathering.
TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the privacy changes. However, the company noted in its updated policy that sensitive personal information would be processed in accordance with applicable law, adding that users can disable location services through their device settings anytime.
Before the joint venture was established, TikTok collected location information based on SIM card or IP address data, but stopped short of gathering even approximate GPS information from American users operating the most updated version of the application, according to a 2024 version of its privacy policy.
Precise location sharing has not yet been enabled in the United States, where it is expected to be optional and turned off by default, requiring users to opt in through a popup message. The company has not announced when the update will reach American users. TikTok already collects similar data from users in the United Kingdom and Europe as part of a Nearby Feed feature that helps users discover events and businesses in their vicinity.
Beyond location permissions, the American TikTok joint venture has also extended its authority to gather information about user interactions with the platform’s artificial intelligence tools, including prompts and questions submitted by users, as well as details about how, when and where AI content was created.
The joint venture structure includes three managing investors: cloud computing giant Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi based investment fund MGX, each holding a 15 percent stake. ByteDance retains a minority stake just below 20 percent in the venture. Other investors include Dell Family Office, the investment firm of Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, plus Vastmere Strategic Investments, Alpha Wave Partners, Revolution, Merritt Way, Via Nova, Virgo LI and NJJ Capital.
Oracle, chaired by Larry Ellison, a Republican megadonor and longtime ally of President Donald Trump, is investing heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure and has taken on significant debt to finance its ambitions in the emerging technology sector. The Trump administration helped broker the United States TikTok deal following years of tension between Washington and Beijing.
The arrangement follows a 2024 United States law requiring TikTok to be banned by January 2025 if ByteDance failed to sell its American operations to domestic investors. Trump repeatedly postponed enforcement of the legislation until the joint venture was finalized this week. The law was prompted partly by concerns about Beijing potentially accessing data belonging to TikTok’s American users.
In a statement on Thursday, the new joint venture said its mandate was to secure United States user data, apps and the algorithm through comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures. Oracle will oversee the retraining of TikTok’s content recommendation algorithm on existing American user data, with the algorithm secured in Oracle’s United States cloud environment, the joint venture stated.
However, on Friday, Representative John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, expressed concern about ByteDance’s ongoing involvement in TikTok’s American operations. In a statement, he questioned whether the deal ensures China does not have influence over the algorithm and whether parties involved can assure Americans their data is secure, adding that these questions need answers as the Select Committee conducts oversight of the arrangement.
Democratic Senator Ed Markey said the deal left many key questions unanswered, noting the White House has provided virtually no details about the agreement, including whether TikTok’s algorithm is truly free of Chinese influence.
The 2024 law includes strict provisions prohibiting any cooperation between ByteDance and a prospective TikTok successor regarding the content recommendation algorithm, as well as barring operational ties between the new entity and ByteDance. Whether the current arrangement complies with these requirements remains a subject of Congressional scrutiny and debate among lawmakers from both parties.
