A little more than one week ago, TikTok stepped on to US shores as a naturalized citizen. Ever since, the video app has been fighting for its life.
The day after TikTok’s arrival, its owners altered its privacy policy to permit more extensive data collection, including tracking the precise locations of its users. The change was notable less for any potential invasion of privacy than for suspicion of the new owners. The updated policy falls in line with those of other major social networks. But what did these men, among them billionaire Oracle owner and Maga donor Larry Ellison, intend to do with the user data? The tweaks aroused suspicion that would blossom into paranoia just a few days later.
During the weekend that followed the transfer of TikTok’s ownership, the US weathered two major events. A hefty, frigid snowstorm slammed the country and put about 230 million people on alert for power outages and burst pipes. And federal immigration officers killed a 37-year-old US citizen in Minneapolis during a protest, which elicited outright lies from the White House despite copious video footage. Both would knock TikTok off its feet, though in different ways.
After days of outcry online, IRL scrutiny and likely dozens of requests for clarification from the press, TikTok issued a statement blaming the problems on the snow, ice and cold on 26 January.
The late attribution of blame did little to assuage public criticism. An unknown number of users said they were decamping from the new American TikTok in response to its perceived censorship. The exodus has propelled a new competitor, Upscrolled, which promises less censorship than TikTok, to the top spot in the US Apple App Store and the third spot in the Google Play Store. An Upscrolled press release now claims more than a million users. As of writing, TikTok rests at No 16 in the iPhone App Store and 10th in the Google Play Store. Alongside Upscrolled in the top 10 most downloaded are three apps used to cloak online activity from surveillance, which are known as virtual private networks (VPNs). A fear of digital government incursions is in the air.