TikTok is seeing a sharp rise in app uninstalls across the United States, according to new market intelligence data from Sensor Tower shared with CNBC. According to the data, over the past week, the average daily number of TikTok uninstalls jumped by nearly 150% compared with the average uninstall rate recorded over the previous three months.

The spike followed TikTok’s announcement that its U.S. operations would move into a new entity called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. The company said the structure places the business under majority American ownership, with investors such as Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX involved, while ByteDance retains a minority stake.

TikTok has been under sustained scrutiny in the U.S. over data security, ownership, and its ability to continue operating in the country. The company has previously faced the possibility of divesting its U.S. operations or facing a ban. Last September, the U.S. and China reached a framework agreement that would give American investors majority control of a new company.

The new announcement has prompted heightened scrutiny among users, contributing to the spike in uninstalls.

Updated privacy policies prompt user questions

As part of the transition, TikTok prompted users in-app to accept updated privacy policies and terms of service. Reports indicate the update included explicit details on data collection practices. Some users questioned these changes, which may have influenced their decision to uninstall the app.

Service disruptions compound uninstall trend

Around the same period, creators and users reported technical issues on the app. These included brief outages, delays in video uploads, and problems with posting content. TikTok stated the problems were caused by a “temporary weather-related power outage” at an Oracle data center, which impacted tens of thousands of servers supporting the platform. According to Oracle spokesperson Michael Egbert, in an email, the company was “working with our data center partner to stabilize our service. We’re sorry for this disruption and hope to resolve it soon.”

However, yesterday, in an X post, an account associated with the joint venture said the issue has been resolved: “We have successfully restored TikTok back to normal after a significant outage caused by winter weather that took down a primary U.S. data center site operated by Oracle.”

Daily engagement remains stable

According to Sensor Tower, while uninstall rates spiked, TikTok’s daily active user levels remained relatively stable. Analysts noted that despite increased deletions, a substantial portion of existing users continued to engage with the platform in the short term. This suggests that the uninstall surge reflects temporary user hesitation or reactions to the joint venture and policy updates rather than a broad decline in core engagement.

Competitor platforms gain traction

As uninstall activity rose, some users tested other social platforms. The Keyword reports that users are exploring alternative apps like UpScrolled, which recently topped the U.S. App Store’s free apps chart.

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