TikTok’s New U.S. Deal and Privacy Policy: What Users Don’t Understand

About this episode

The episode discusses TikTok's shift to a majority-American entity and the implications of its new privacy policy.

TikTok has shifted to a majority-American entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture, LLC, to comply with U.S. national security requirements and avoid a ban. This week we discuss why a recent privacy policy update went viral—especially language about sensitive data like immigration status and precise location—and argue much of it reflects longstanding practices and required California privacy disclosures. We emphasize reading policies, understanding your threat model, and making your own decision about using TikTok or other social platforms. The episode also briefly mentions Ring ending its partnership with Flock and a rumored internal email about expanding Ring’s “search party” feature. ** Links mentioned on the show ** TikTok users freak out over app’s ‘immigration status’ collection — here’s what it means https://tech.yahoo.com/social-media/articles/tiktok-users-freak-over-app-043402475.html Here’s what you should know about the US TikTok deal https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/23/heres-whats-you-should-know-about-the-us-tiktok-deal/ TikTok’s Privacy Policy https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/us/privacy-policy/en ** Watch this episode on YouTube ** ** Become a Shared Security Supporter **…

People in this episode

Hosts: Tom Eston, Scott Wright, Kevin Tackett

Topics covered

• TikTok
• privacy policy
• data security
• social media
• U.S. national security
• user awareness

Keywords

• TikTok
• privacy policy
• U.S. deal
• data collection
• social platforms
• user privacy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: TikTok, TikTok USDS Joint Venture, LLC, Ring, Flock

Books & works: TikTok’s Privacy Policy

Places: U.S., California

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