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U.S. Ownership Shift Prompts California Review of TikTok

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U.S. Ownership Shift Prompts California Review of TikTok
Media Bias Meter
Sources: 7
Left 33%
Center 50%
Right 17%
Sources: 7

Sacramento — State officials and cybersecurity experts are investigating alleged political content suppression on TikTok after the company announced a U.S.-majority ownership restructuring on January 22, 2026. The new TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, led by CEO Adam Presser, reports 80.1% American ownership and 19.9% retained by ByteDance, with Oracle hosting U.S. data and plans to retrain algorithms on domestic data. Users and creators reported sudden drops in views, blocked keywords and posting failures, prompting Governor Gavin Newsom to open a state review while TikTok attributed disruptions to a U.S. data center outage. Based on 6 articles reviewed and supporting research.

Prepared by Christopher Adams and reviewed by editorial team.

Timeline of Events

  • Years of U.S. national-security scrutiny targeted ByteDance and TikTok operations.
  • January 22, 2026: TikTok announces formation of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC with majority U.S. ownership.
  • Users and creators report sudden drops in views, blocked keywords and posting failures.
  • Governor Gavin Newsom announces a state review into alleged political content suppression.
  • TikTok cites a U.S. data center outage while investigations and expert assessments proceed.
Media Bias
Articles Published:
6
Right Leaning:
1
Left Leaning:
2
Neutral:
3

Who Benefited

The new ownership structure benefits American investors and managing firms—Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX—by granting them majority control of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, roles on the board, and responsibilities for U.S.-based data hosting and algorithm retraining.

Who Impacted

U.S. creators and users, particularly those posting political content critical of former President Trump or immigration enforcement, experienced sudden drops in reach, blocked keywords and posting failures, prompting complaints and a state-level review.

Media Bias
Articles Published:
6
Right Leaning:
1
Left Leaning:
2
Neutral:
3
Distribution:
Left 33%, Center 50%, Right 17%
Who Benefited

The new ownership structure benefits American investors and managing firms—Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX—by granting them majority control of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, roles on the board, and responsibilities for U.S.-based data hosting and algorithm retraining.

Who Impacted

U.S. creators and users, particularly those posting political content critical of former President Trump or immigration enforcement, experienced sudden drops in reach, blocked keywords and posting failures, prompting complaints and a state-level review.

Coverage of Story:

From Left

California Gov. Gavin Newsom slams alleged suppression of anti-Trump TikTok content

Santa Rosa Press Democrat IVCPOST
From Center

U.S. Ownership Shift Prompts California Review of TikTok

WebProNews CBS 8 - San Diego News californianewstimes.com
From Right

Green Bay food reviewer quits TikTok amid changes to terms and conditions, privacy policy

WLUK

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