infinite scroll MINI TECH SCROLL: Why is TikTok broken for Americans? Inside the first week of the TikTok USDS joint venture
Jan 28, 2026
A fast rundown of the US spin-off of TikTok and who’s funding the new venture. Reports of algorithm leases, alleged content suppression, and a data-center outage get attention. New privacy prompts and possible GPS/AI data changes are flagged. Rising migration to rivals like UpScrolled, Skylight and Monnett is tracked, with questions about whether they can keep users.
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Curated Investors And An Algorithm Lease
- The joint venture is led by Silver Lake, Oracle, and MGX, each with 15% stakes and specific political/foreign implications.
- The algorithm lease lets ByteDance avoid selling while the US retrains recommendations on American data.
Creators Report Sudden Drops And Censorship Fears
- High-profile US creators reported sudden drops in views and alleged topical censorship after the ownership change.
- Concerns focus on politically sensitive topics like ICE and Epstein, prompting public outcry from creators.
Data-Centre Outage Coincided With Glitches
- A US data-center power outage coincided with the engagement problems, causing outages and slower load times.
- TikTok-USDS posted updates blaming a data center issue while users remained skeptical about targeted suppression.