TikTok is now in U.S. hands. Here’s what the app wants to know about you.
(CBS NEWS) — According to CBS News, now in U.S. hands after the social media service split from China-based ByteDance earlier this year — is raising concerns among some users about its new privacy policy, prompting questions about the scope of its data collection.
TikTok on Jan. 22 confirmed that a new U.S.-based entity was in control of the app, with the venture formed to sidestep a federal law that forced ByteDance to either sell its stake in the platform or be cut off from the U.S. market. That same day, the company posted its new user terms and conditions and privacy policy.
Backlash to the new policies quickly spread on social media, with some users saying they deleted the app over privacy fears, while others flagged the changes for their followers. One complaint: a new provision stating that TikTok may collect “precise location information” from users’ devices if they enable location services in their device settings.
Some social media users attacked the new privacy policy as “beyond invasive and predatory,” while others decried the app’s “surveillance.”
A shift under U.S. owners
TikTok’s new geolocation practices are a change from its previous policy under ByteDance, experts said.
“The change in location data is the most stark because the previous privacy policy had explicitly said that the current versions of the app do not collect precise GPS information,” Caitriona Fitzgerald, deputy director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a public interest research center focused on data privacy.
She added, “Folks should be concerned about that. Your precise location data can be down to your address or even what floor you’re on in an apartment building.”
TikTok updated its privacy policy to include clearer language about location information, and plans to soon allow U.S. users to share their precise location with TikTok or opt out of that feature, according to a TikTok official. The company plans to use the precise location data to provide new services and features to users, the official noted.
TikTok’s new ownership includes software maker Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX, which will own a combined 45% of the company.
Another 35% stake in TikTok will be owned by eight other investors, including Dell CEO Michael Dell’s personal investment office. ByteDance will retain 19.9% of the business, just below the 20% ownership cap allowed under federal law.
What TikTok collects under its new privacy policy
Some TikTok users are also expressing concern about the types of personal information the app says it may collect, although its previous privacy policy disclosed that it might collect the same types of data. Under both the new and previous policies, TikTok said it may collect users:
• Racial or ethnic origin
• National origin
• Religious beliefs
• Mental health diagnosis
• Physical health diagnosis
• Sexual life
• Sexual orientation
• Status as transgender
• Status as nonbinary
• Citizenship status
• Immigration status
• Financial information
• Government-issued identification numbers, such as a driver’s license number
But the new policy also changes how TikTok describes its handling of sensitive data. The company now states that it “processes such sensitive personal information in accordance with applicable law.”
The earlier policy framed this more narrowly, saying it used sensitive information only when needed to run the service or to comply with legal requirements — for example, using payment details to process a purchase or a driver’s license to verify a user’s identity.
The new language mirrors that of the California Consumer Privacy Act, a law that requires businesses to disclose what types of information they collect, including race and ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, and their sex life.
What about geolocation tracking?
The biggest change between TikTok’s current and previous privacy policies lies in their treatment of location tracking, which is now explicitly classified as sensitive data in the 2026 version.
“We may also collect precise location data, depending on your settings and as explained below,” the latest privacy policy states.
Both the older and newer versions note that TikTok may determine a user’s “approximate location” based on signals such as their SIM card region or IP address. But the new policy adds that TikTok is also allowed to collect a user’s “precise location” if the person has enabled location services for TikTok.
The new policy notes that users can “turn off location services from your device settings at any time.”
By contrast, the pre-2026 privacy policy explicitly stated that current versions of the app do “not collect precise or approximate GPS information from U.S. users.”
TikTok doesn’t yet have a toggle to allow people to switch off their precise location data because the company hasn’t yet added that tracking functionality to the app, the TikTok official said.
When the app rolls out the feature, users will see a prompt that asks whether they want to share their location, the TikTok official said.
Consumer advocates generally recommend that people turn off precise location tracking within the apps they use. For instance, X users can go to their “privacy and safety settings” and then click “location services” to see if they have enabled the app to track their exact location. It can be disabled by toggling the switch off.
However, even if precise location tracking is disabled, apps can still narrow down your general location through your IP address, according to Consumer Reports.
Can users opt out of TikTok’s new policies?
Since Jan. 22, when TikTok officially came under U.S. ownership, the app has presented users with a pop-up screen alerting them to the new terms of service and privacy policies. To continue to use the service, users must click “agree,” or else they are blocked from using TikTok.
“If the only choice is to accept the unnecessary collection and use of your location data, your citizenship data and other sensitive data, or not use the app at all, that’s not a real choice,” EPIC’s Fitzgerald told CBS News.
Do other social media apps track personal data?
Other social media apps also track personal data, including Meta and X. The latter’s privacy policy specifies that users can “choose to share your current precise location or places where you’ve previously used X by enabling these settings in your account.”
Americans are notoriously lax about providing apps with access to their personal data, although about 8 in 10 say they’re concerned about how corporations use the data they collect about them, Pew Research Center found in a 2023 survey.
Still, more than half of consumers agree to companies’ privacy policies without reading them, the study found.
