Background on the US TikTok deal

The biggest tech news & social media trends on the internet from January 28th, 2026.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

1:40 TikTok and the US government close the deal to spin off TikTok

5:42 Investors leading the TikTok USDS joint venture

8:10 Allegations of censorship on US TikTok  

11:00 Glitches & TikTok’s data centre power outage 

13:00 Changes to TikTok’s privacy policy 

15:17 Alternative platforms to TikTok gaining traction: UpScrolled, Skylight & Monnett

17:41 Will people stick to the alternative platforms? What is next for US TikTok?   

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Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/a rticles/c3edd1l328lo 

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115942147803684675 

https://newsroom.tiktok.com/announcement-from-the-new-tiktok-usds-joint-venture-llc?lang=en-GB

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/01/26/tiktok-censorship-ice-shooting/ 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2026/01/26/are-new-owners-censoring-tiktok-top-democrats-influencers-celebrities-raising-concerns/ 

https://www.theverge.com/news/867873/tiktok-down-outage-us-data-center-power-outage 

https://x.com/tiktokusdsjv/status/2015936397073437004?s=20  

https://x.com/tiktokusdsjv/status/2015807214871535741?s=20 

https://www.theverge.com/news/868379/tiktok-us-trump-oracle-broken-rumors-power-outage 

https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/23/tiktok-users-freak-out-over-apps-immigration-status-collection-heres-what-it-means/ 

https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-new-privacy-policy/ 

https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-new-privacy-policy/ 

https://usdsjv.tiktok.com/Technical-issues-impacting-TikTok-US-service 

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/26/tiktok-uninstalls-are-up-150percent-following-us-joint-venture.html 

https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/26/social-network-upscrolled-sees-surge-in-downloads-following-tiktoks-us-takeover/ 

https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/26/tiktok-alternative-skylight-soars-to-380k-users-after-tiktok-u-s-deal-finalized/