Gen Z creators in the U.S. are staging a quiet revolt against TikTok’s new American owners, and their protest is happening one download at a time: by installing a rising alternative app built by a former Oracle employee.
In January, TikTok’s U.S. operation was formally split from its global business and placed under a new joint venture in which Oracle holds a major stake, with the enterprise software giant now responsible for American user data and a U.S.-run version of TikTok’s recommendation algorithm. The shift capped years of political pressure and delivered what backers framed as a national security victory, but on the ground, many young users saw something else: a beloved app becoming an instrument of corporate and political power.
