Updated January 28, 2026. The U.S. TikTok ownership saga is over. TikTok has established TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, led by CEO Adam Presser, to meet the requirements of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in the U.S. The business will be overseen by a seven-person panel, including TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Egon Durban of Silver Lake, and Kenneth Glueck from Oracle. Now that the uncertainty is over, how will the “new” U.S. TikTok impact TikTok advertising in a multicultural America? Portada asked several marketing and media agency experts. This is what we found out.
1. TikTok U.S. Regulation: From Community-Driven to Brand-Driven
American users began seeing a pop-up message last Thursday when they logged into the TikTok app, prompting them to agree to the new terms. The new privacy policy says that if users enable location services, TikTok can now collect approximate or precise location information. People can opt out of this through their device settings. TikTok’s targeted advertising terms also changed. The pop-up message said the new terms changed the way the app would use people’s information “to show you ads outside TikTok.” According to Randy Gudiel, SVP, Media Director, Orci, “when a platform becomes more US-regulated and advertiser-centric, brand safety rules, moderation standards, legal oversight, and monetization priorities start to shape what scales. Creators adapt quickly to those signals and, over time, self-edit, even without explicit direction. That is how a platform shifts from community-driven to brand-filtered without announcing it.”
“When a platform becomes more US-regulated and advertiser-centric, brand safety rules, moderation standards, legal oversight, and monetization priorities start to shape what scales.“
Gudiel adds, “TikTok did not empower diverse voices because it was fair. It worked because creators did not have to explain themselves or make their culture comfortable for brands. The US version of TikTok brings explanation and approval back into the system, even if it is unspoken. The impact is that multicultural marketing shifts from community-led to brand-filtered, and that will change which voices grow, which ones get quiet, and whose culture is ultimately built for. Over time, this shift will not just affect representation. It will affect performance, because a culture that feels filtered stops feeling trusted.”
“This shift will not just affect representation. It will affect performance, because a culture that feels filtered stops feeling trusted.”
2. TikTok Advertising: Sigh of Relief For Some Brands
The end of the uncertainty around the ownership of TikTok’s U.S.operation will let some TikTok advertisers “breathe a sigh of relief. I don’t think many of them were particularly worried about the Chinese ownership, but the uncertainty about whether TikTok would be shuttered was probably a consideration in their budgeting discussions,” notes UM Worldwide’s Queamante. “There might be increased spending on the platform, now that advertisers don’t have to worry as much about TikTok being shut down mid-campaign,” he adds. “There are probably a handful of advertisers who were holding off on TT spend, that might start advertising there, but I can’t imagine that there were a lot of brands holding back.”
3. Betting on Diverse Creators Continues to Make Sense…
David Queamante, SVP, Design, Multi-Cultural at UM Worldwide, doesn’t think much will change in terms of the “composition of TikTok, how audiences will use TikTok, or how we can target them, or can’t target them, within the platform.” Queamante cites an MRI Simmons Fall 2025 study that states that 2 in 5 TikTok users are Black, Hispanic, or Asian, indicating that multicultural audiences are well represented. The number rises to 43% when LGBT is included. Additionally, UM’s proprietary study Media in Mind 2025 shows that diverse audiences index very high for statements such as: “Couldn’t live without TikTok (138i)”, “Rely on TikTok for purchase decisions” (140i+) or “have purchased items from TikTok” (132i).
Queamante caveats that, in his understanding, TikTok is similar to Meta and X, in that “you can’t target people by protected criteria anymore.” He adds that the “Hispanic loophole is that you can still target by language.” According to Queamante, your best bet “is still to partner with diverse voices, knowing that they will attract an audience that sees themselves in that creator, meaning the audience will skew diverse as well.”
“Your best bet is to partner with diverse voices, knowing that they will attract an audience that sees themselves in that creator, meaning the audience will skew diverse as well.”
4. As They Have a Powerful Appeal to U.S. Audiences in General.
Not only do diverse creators generally provide a strong foundation for engaging TikTok’s huge, diverse following, but they also have substantial crossover appeal to more mainstream audiences, as the enormous popularity of Latin Music has shown. ” We’ve known for a long time that media partners that are created for diverse audiences can also attract audiences that are not diverse. Up to one-third of Black cable viewers are White, for instance. This has never been a problem for me: I say we’re always targeting the culture, not skin color or DNA. Audiences visiting these media partners align with those partners’ cultures, and they’re being missed in a general market campaign, so there’s even more reason for me to run ads there,” Queamante asserts.
“We’ve known for a long time that media partners that are created for diverse audiences can also attract audiences that are not diverse. Up to one-third of Black Cable viewers are White, for instance.”
5. TikTok Advertising: The Secret Sauce – Algorithm Tweaks?
The TikTok USDS Joint Venture has three primary managing investors: Silver Lake, Oracle, and MGX, each holding 15%. The new joint venture will retrain, test, and update the content recommendation algorithm on U.S. user data. Dario Betti, CEO of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum, explains that the TikTok U.S. Joint Venture LLC will assume operational control of the U.S. business, including a newly “retrained” algorithm. Betti notes that “while details remain limited, it is fair to say that the U.S. TikTok experience will eventually be driven by a different core system.” TikTok USDS will operate under strict national security safeguards. According to TikTok’s official statement, the U.S. entity is responsible for securing user data, application code, and the recommendation algorithm through “comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures”, including regular transparency reports and third-party certifications. All U.S. user data will be stored within Oracle’s domestic cloud infrastructure, isolated from ByteDance. The recommendation algorithm will be retrained and tested on U.S. data within this environment to ensure its integrity. The new U.S. company will also have full control over content moderation on the platform, operating under strengthened community guidelines and oversight mechanisms.
6. Early Empirical Results Indicate that U.S. Social Media Algorithms Are Adjusting to Political Pressure
Early results from empirical research by the Mobile Ecosystem Forum, a global trade body for the mobile ecosystem, indicate that U.S. social media algorithms might already have adjusted to new political pressure. The Mobile Ecosystem Forum’s Betti notes that the research is a monthly sample, started 6 months ago, and it will take another 6 months to finish and publish: “It needs to be reviewed and tested further, but it seems to point to a change in the social media discourse in the USA, with X showing the highest swing.” Betti points out it is not necessarily a change in the algorithm, “but we consider there could be an element of both at play.” Key drivers for the change, according to Betti, are less or no fact-checking. Content filters might also be at play.
UM Worldwide’s Quemante asserts that, going forward, TikTok’s content moderation may involve nuances. “I’m not sure if there’s a particular political leaning behind the numerous entities coming together to buy a majority stake in TikTok. If they decide to lay a heavy hand on the way content is moderated, and brand safety is determined, then TikTok might change, but it’s too early to tell.”
7. TikTok Advertising: The U.S. TikTok App is Split from Global Business
Betti explains that the TikTok U.S. Joint Venture LLC is taking operational control of the U.S. business. Betti notes that “while details remain limited, it is fair to say that the U.S. TikTok experience will eventually be driven by a different core system.” This divergence may make it difficult to operate the U.S. and international versions of TikTok advertising in a fully synchronised manner. Commercially, however, the platforms will remain connected. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, retains a minority stake in the U.S. entity, maintaining a formal relationship between the two.
This divergence may make it difficult to operate the U.S. and international versions of TikTok in a fully synchronised manner.
Despite the corporate separation, TikTok has stated that the app will continue to offer a “global TikTok experience”, allowing U.S. creators and businesses to engage with the wider international platform through TikTok advertising. In practice, this means American users will retain access to the same content ecosystem and features, although governance and oversight in the U.S. will now be handled domestically. This shift is intended to reassure users and marketers that TikTok’s vibrancy and reach will remain intact, even as regulatory control becomes more localised.
According to Betti, it is conceivable that international campaigns could still be purchased centrally and deployed across multiple TikTok markets. However, operational segmentation and platform behaviour may vary significantly by region. The scale of the U.S. market allows for tailored campaigns and audience segmentation, and in reality, most major brands do not run fully global campaigns. So while the change may be more substantial than the announcement suggests, it is reasonable to expect that most brands will not be adversely affected.
Going forward, in order to optimize TikTok advertising, marketers and consumers will need to monitor the new U.S. TikTok. As one source tells Portada, “It might still be too early to tell what the finalization of this deal means when it comes to impacting diverse users. Speculation based on the current climate can be too unstable to predict, and I wouldn’t want to fear-monger. There are questions/areas that I think we as marketers and as consumers need to be more diligent about – like how the user data will be used/protected, and how the algorithm may change in delivering content to users. In terms of consumer usage, though, I am sure a majority of the user base will continue to use it as-is as they have been, but how the algorithm will adapt and change is something brands and consumers need to monitor.”
8. New Streaming Ad Formats Make TikTok Even More Competitive (Updated)
Along with the announcement of the new TikTok U.S. unit, the app also unveiled new streaming ad formats that let advertisers showcase multiple films or show titles in a single ad unit. The new format has a particular allure to entertainment advertisers (streamers, studios, movies, etc.) According to Melvin Wilson, Founder of Plural Group, “the TikTok deal is not going to change day to day much, but will change infrastructure and product development. What will affect publishers and marketers is really the new streaming products they built and launched late because of waiting to get this deal done. Now they have creator-first products ready right in time for upfronts. The companies most at risk of losing business to them are small publishers and multicultural companies.”
“What will affect publishers and marketers is really the new streaming products they built and launched late because of waiting to get this deal done. Now they have creator-first products ready right in time for upfronts.”
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