TikTok US venture to collect precise user location data

TikTok’s new US joint venture has made changes to its privacy policy, including expanding the type of location data the company can collect from its 200 million US users.

The new policy was released after investors reached a deal with TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance on Thursday to manage the popular short-form video app’s business in the United States.

The new joint venture said in its updated privacy terms that it can now “collect precise location data, based on your settings” – a change from the previous policy which allowed the collection of “approximate” location data.

TikTok did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment on the change.

The company’s policy adds that sensitive personal information will be treated “in accordance with applicable law” and that users can turn off location services in their device settings at any time.

Even before the new company was founded, TikTok collected location information based on a user’s SIM card or IP address, or both.

But it failed to collect even approximate GPS information from U.S. users using the most recent version of the app, according to a 2024 version of its privacy policy.

Precise location sharing has not yet been enabled in the US, where it is expected to be optional and disabled by default so users will be prompted to opt-in with a pop-up message. TikTok has not said when the update is expected to reach US users.

TikTok already collects similar data from users in the UK and Europe as part of a new “Nearby Feed” feature that lets users find events and businesses near them.

New US joint venture TikTok is also expanding its permissions to collect information about user interactions with TikTok’s artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

This includes prompts and questions submitted by users, as well as information about how, when and where the AI ​​content was requested or created.

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is made up of three lead investors, including cloud computing giant Oracle, which is investing heavily in AI infrastructure and has taken on significant debt to fund its ambitions in the booming space.

Oracle is chaired by Larry Ellison, a Republican megadonor and longtime ally of US President Donald Trump, whose administration helped broker the US TikTok deal.

The deal follows years of wrangling between Washington and Beijing that began during Trump’s first presidential term, when he unsuccessfully tried to ban the app on national security grounds.

In 2024, the United States passed a law requiring the platform to be banned in the United States by January 2025 if ByteDance failed to sell its American operations to American investors.

Trump repeatedly delayed implementing the legislation until the joint venture was finalized this week.

The 2024 law was motivated in part by concerns that Beijing could access the data of U.S. TikTok users.

In a statement released Thursday, the new joint venture said its mandate was to “secure U.S. user data, applications and algorithm through comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures.”

Oracle will oversee the retraining of TikTok’s powerful content recommendation algorithm on existing U.S. user data, the joint venture said in its statement, adding that the algorithm “will be secure in Oracle’s U.S. cloud environment.”

ByteDance retains a minority stake of just under 20% in the joint venture.

Other lead investors include US technology investment firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi public investment fund MGX, which has done business with the Trump family’s crypto firm World Liberty Financial.

On Friday, Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, expressed concern about ByteDance’s continued involvement in TikTok’s U.S. operations.

“Does this agreement guarantee that China will have no influence over the algorithm? Can the parties involved assure Americans that their data is secure?” he said in a statement.

“These are questions that need to be answered as the select committee oversees this deal.”