TikTok just gave US users a new way to find the best tacos or vintage shops in town. The app launched a dedicated “local” feed designed to show you must-try restaurants, museums, and events happening right around the corner. But getting this inside scoop comes with a specific trade-off: you have to let TikTok know exactly where you are.
This update follows a recent shift in the platform’s rules. Previously, the app stated it collected “approximate” location data. Now, likely following a deal with US investors, the terms allowing the app to track precise coordinates are in effect. While the app creates the potential to collect this data regardless, the actual local feed feature is opt-in. It sits at “off” by default, so users must dig into their settings to switch it on.
Don’t expect this feature to fix the loneliness epidemic or introduce you to the neighbors. The algorithm explicitly ignores people in favor of commerce. The feed prioritizes local merchants, pushing shopping suggestions and happy hour deals rather than potential friends.
This push clearly aims to court small business owners, encouraging them to become content creators and, more importantly, advertisers. As TechCrunch notes, this strategy also builds a defensive wall for the company. If regulators increase scrutiny, TikTok can point to the millions of mom-and-pop shops that rely on the app to survive. The company claims over 7.5 million US businesses use the platform, though that figure comes from a report published before the recent ownership changes.
While supporting local trade is a solid goal, users have to weigh the utility of a dedicated feed against the privacy risks. Oracle is a key investor in this American version of TikTok, and founder Larry Ellison once famously argued that citizens behave better when they know they are being watched.
This concept isn’t entirely new. TikTok began testing similar location-based feeds in Europe late last year, rolling them out across the UK, France, Italy, and Germany. Now, American users must decide if finding a cool new café is worth handing over their GPS coordinates.
