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The Conversation
The Conversation
Casey Fiesler, Associate Professor of Information Science, University of Colorado Boulder

Fears about TikTok’s policy changes point to a deeper problem in the tech industry

TikTok United States Donald Trump
Users' fears about TikTok might be a bit off the mark, but nonetheless justified. Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto via Getty Images

A little over a year after TikTok temporarily went dark in the United States and users were greeted with a message explaining that “a law banning TikTok has been enacted,” those same U.S. users opened the app to find a pop-up message requiring them to agree to new terms before they could continue scrolling.

The new terms of service and privacy policy went into effect on Jan. 22, 2026, following the app’s sale from ByteDance to TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, a majority American-owned company that reportedly will control U.S. users’ data and content and the app’s recommendation algorithm.

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