Do we like TikTok?
Short-video social app run by ByteDance; global HQ in Singapore/LA, US arm is a separate joint venture.
Our score: 3 out of 10. Not one we'd back: big EU privacy fines and a growing pile of US state suits over child safety outweigh the data-security fixes in the US deal.
TikTok is owned by China's ByteDance and has been under US pressure for years over fears about Chinese government access to data. Congress passed a divest-or-ban law, and the app went briefly offline in the US in January 2025 before the deadline was repeatedly extended.
The fix was a US joint venture. Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi's MGX hold 15% each and ByteDance keeps 19.9%. Per the memo from CEO Shou Zi Chew, Oracle is the trusted security partner that audits compliance. Adam Presser is the venture's CEO. Questions remain about how the venture and ByteDance work together.
Europe's regulators have been tougher. Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined TikTok €345m in 2023 over children's data. In 2025 it fined the company €530m for sending European users' data to China without proper checks. TikTok is appealing that second fine and told the regulator the data has been deleted.
Child safety is the other big problem. In 2024, 14 attorneys general sued, accusing TikTok of building addictive features that harm kids. Pennsylvania, Arizona and West Virginia have since filed similar suits. TikTok says some of these claims are misleading, and it has settled with Alabama for $100m. These are allegations, not findings.
Our score is 3. The US ownership fix is a real step, but regulators have found privacy breaches and dozens of officials accuse it of putting growth ahead of children's safety. In late October, the DC attorney general's office and others sought to question Chew about child exploitation on TikTok Live.