TikTok’s New US Joint Venture Updates Privacy Policy to Include Precise Location Tracking

TikTok’s newly established US joint venture has revised its privacy policy to allow the collection of precise location data from its 200 million American users. The move comes shortly after US investors finalized a deal with TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to operate the app within the United States. Under the updated terms, TikTok may now collect exact GPS data depending on user settings, whereas it previously only accessed approximate location data. The company stated that users can disable location sharing through device settings and that all sensitive information will be handled in accordance with relevant laws.

The policy change expands beyond location data. The new US entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which includes Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX as main investors, will also collect data related to user interactions with TikTok’s artificial intelligence tools. This includes user prompts, questions, and activity logs involving AI-generated content. Oracle will manage the retraining of TikTok’s recommendation algorithm using US-based data within Oracle’s American cloud infrastructure, ensuring compliance with strict data security requirements.

This restructuring follows a 2024 US law mandating ByteDance to divest its US assets or face a nationwide ban—legislation rooted in concerns over potential access to American user data by the Chinese government. Oracle’s chairman, Larry Ellison, has been a key political ally of Donald Trump, whose administration initially pushed for separating TikTok’s US operations from its Chinese ownership. Despite ByteDance retaining a minority stake of just under 20%, some US lawmakers remain skeptical about whether the arrangement fully safeguards American data. Representative John Moolenaar has called for closer oversight to verify that China no longer influences TikTok’s algorithms or data access.