The internet panic over a mass exodus from TikTok appears to be wrong. despite a messy transition to new American ownership, new data shows the app’s user base hasn’t gone anywhere. Figures from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower reveal that TikTok’s daily active users in the U.S. are holding steady at about 95% of their previous levels.
The drama started in late January when the app shifted to the “TikTok USDS Joint Venture.” This move satisfied President Trump’s order to split the platform from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Under the new deal, Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX took major ownership stakes, while ByteDance kept just under 20%.
Users immediately voiced concerns. Senator Bernie Sanders criticized the deal, pointing to close ties between Trump and Oracle’s Larry Ellison. Tensions peaked on January 25 when glitches prevented users from sending messages containing the name “Epstein.” Many suspected political censorship or data mining was at play.
However, the data tells a simpler story. While thousands deleted the app that week, most redownloaded it almost immediately. Abraham Yousef, an analyst at Sensor Tower, noted that uninstalls followed by same-day reinstalls jumped 70%. People weren’t boycotting the app; they were just trying to fix the glitches.
Rival apps tried to capitalize on the chaos but failed. UpScrolled saw a massive 770% spike in downloads, only to see those numbers crash by 80% the following week. Apps like Skylight Social and Red Note saw similar declines.
Experts say the lack of a real alternative helped TikTok survive. Kelsey Chickering from Forrester explained that for most people, the app feels exactly the same. While the new terms of service do allow the new owners to track location and AI usage more closely, the algorithm hasn’t shown clear signs of political bias yet. For now, the anger has faded. As Chickering noted, history shows that if a product works well, users usually stick around regardless of who owns it.
