Why the January 2026 Terms of Service Update Should Stop Creators in Their Tracks
On January 22, 2026, TikTok gave U.S. creators a choice that wasn’t really a choice at all.
Agree to the updated Terms of Service, or lose access.
Most people clicked “Agree” and kept moving. That’s how platforms train us. But buried in that update was something worth stopping for, because TikTok didn’t just update legal language.
It expanded what it can take from you.
And it confirmed what many creators have felt for years but hoped wasn’t true.
What TikTok Now Explicitly Claims the Right to Collect
Under its updated privacy policy, TikTok now openly states that it may collect and process:
Precise GPS location data—not just your general city or region, but exactly where you are. The previous policy explicitly stated: “Current versions of the app do not collect precise or approximate GPS information from U.S. users.” That line is gone. The new policy reads: “We may also collect precise location data, depending on your settings.”
Your content before you post it. TikTok’s policy states: “When you create User Content, we may upload or import it to the Platform before you save or post the User Content (also known as pre-uploading).” Your drafts. Your edits. Your unfinished ideas.
Sensitive personal information inferred from your content—including “your racial or ethnic origin, national origin, religious beliefs, mental or physical health diagnosis, sexual life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration status, or financial information.”
Everything you share with AI features—including “prompts, questions, files, and other types of information that you submit to our AI-powered interfaces, as well as the responses they generate.”
Data to target you with ads outside the app. TikTok now explicitly claims the right to show you “customized ads and sponsored content” on other websites based on your TikTok behavior.
This isn’t speculation. This isn’t interpretation. It’s written policy, quoted directly from TikTok’s current Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Why This Is an Urgent Problem: a line has been crossed
TikTok has been careful to emphasize that these practices are legal and compliant with U.S. privacy laws. That may be true.
It’s also beside the point.
The issue isn’t legality. The issue is structure. Fairness.
When a platform processes your content before you even decide to share it, expression stops being speech and becomes raw material.
When a platform can infer your immigration status from a video you made, and that platform is now partially owned by investors with direct ties to the current administration, the stakes aren’t abstract anymore.
When a platform collects your precise location while you film, and that data can follow you across the internet, the app’s boundaries no longer exist.
“The alarm is a fair reaction,” Calli Schroeder, senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told HuffPost. “People are unaware of how much information these companies get from them, either directly or from inferences.”
This isn’t about panic.
It’s about recognizing that a line has been crossed.
This is No Accident
These policy changes arrived the same week TikTok finalized its transition to TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, a new entity with majority American ownership.
The managing investors include Oracle, chaired by Larry Ellison, a longtime ally of President Trump. They include MGX, an Abu Dhabi investment firm that has done business with the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. ByteDance retains a minority stake of just under 20%.
The platform built its dominance by being the place where culture happened first. It didn’t just host creators, it shaped music, launched careers, and gave voice to communities that mainstream media ignored.
Now that platform has new owners. New priorities. New policies.
And the people who built its value were the last to know.
Creators Have Been Disrespected Before…
This moment didn’t come out of nowhere.
Creators felt it when Twitter was taken over and reshaped overnight.
They felt it when algorithm changes quietly erased reach they spent years building.
They felt it when monetization rules shifted without warning.
Creators know the pattern: platforms built on culture eventually optimize for advertisers, politics, or shareholders—not the people who made them matter in the first place.
On TikTok, you’re tolerated until you’re inconvenient.
That creates a quiet but real feeling many creators don’t talk about openly:
Homelessness.
Not having a place that’s actually built for you.
Not knowing when the ground might shift again.
Not owning your relationship with the people who support your work.
TikTok Isn’t Alone. It’s Just Being Honest.
To be clear, TikTok didn’t invent this model. All the major social platforms have moved in the same direction.
What changed is that TikTok stopped implying and started stating.
And once it’s written down, the imbalance becomes impossible to ignore.
Creators generate the culture.
Platforms extract the value.
The clearer the terms become, the clearer that equation looks.
Why Fanbase Exists
Fanbase was built for this exact moment.
Long before this update, Isaac Hayes III talked openly about this failure mode: platforms that grow on culture, then turn around and extract from it. Fanbase was designed as an alternative before creators were forced to look for one.
Fanbase was born in the culture. Built by creators. Designed for everyone.
Our foundation is deeply rooted in The Culture, because Black & other marginalized creators have historically felt platform instability first and hardest. That insight became the blueprint for building something better for all creators.
On Fanbase:
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Creators are the focus, not the product. No algorithmic suppression. No content processed before you’re ready to share it.
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Ownership isn’t performative, it’s structural. Your content is yours. Your audience relationship is yours. Your data isn’t fuel for someone else’s ad network.
- You can be yourself without limits. No wondering if your identity makes you a target. No worrying that who you are is being categorized and sold.
We don’t believe creators should trade autonomy for reach.
We don’t believe unfinished ideas should be treated as data exhaust.
We don’t believe ownership should disappear the moment you upload your work.
Your History Is The Foundation For Your Future
One of the biggest reasons creators stay put, even when they’re uneasy, is fear of starting from zero again.
Fanbase was built to remove that friction.
With our content migration tools, you can bring your posts, videos, and history with you. No rebuilding from scratch. No losing momentum. No guessing what happens behind the scenes.
Migration takes minutes, not months:
And you can start earning from day one…on your terms.
The Riskiest Option For Creators: Doing Nothing
Hoping a platform treats you better is not a strategy.
History rewards those who takes positive action.
Waiting for clarity doesn’t reduce risk, it just delays the decision.
Every day you stay, you’re reinforcing a system that has already shown you where you stand.
Why would you stay in an abusive relationship?
Inaction has consequences.
Taking action isn’t just practical. It’s emotional.
Choosing a home feels better than staying outraged.
Movement feels better than helplessness.
The Question Creators Have to Answer
The real question is no longer what did TikTok update.
It’s this:
Who owns your work?
Who controls your distribution?
Who benefits first?
What are you going to do about it?
Creators have the power of choice
Social media is changing. That change is no longer abstract. It’s written into the terms.
Fanbase exists to help creators step out of extraction cycles and into ownership, accountability, and collective power.
Your work has always had value.
From the moment of creation.
You deserve a platform that treats it that way.
Everyone’s a creator. Everyone has a fanbase.
It’s time to come home.
Welcome Home to Fanbase
This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC. This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. Supplement, Offering Circular, Risks, C-AR/A 2023 & C-AR 2023.
For People Who Value Content And Community, Fanbase Is The Next-Generation Social Creator Hub That Allows Any User To Earn Money From Day One. Unlike Other Social Apps, Fanbase Is The One Place You Can Truly Be You. Without Limits. To download Fanbase on iOs click here To download on Android click here.
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