# The US TikTok algorithm after the joint venture: what is confirmed and what is noise

> Did my TikTok reach change because Oracle retrained the US algorithm?

Source: https://fastclips.app/learn/tiktok-us-algorithm-joint-venture · Updated 2026-10-04 · Published by FastClip (fastclips.app)

## Short answer

There is no public evidence that it did. On January 23, 2026, the new TikTok USDS Joint Venture said it "will retrain, test, and update" the recommendation algorithm on US user data, but it has published no timeline or completion date. In February 2026 a TikTok spokeswoman told NPR that no changes had been made, and on May 29, 2026 Senator Ed Markey wrote that the joint venture had "failed to explain" what retraining means. Claims that the US feed switched to a new model in April 2026 rest on user anecdotes.

## The executive order requires retraining, but sets no date

The joint venture exists because of a 2024 US law, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. It required TikTok's US operations to leave the control of ByteDance, TikTok's China-based parent. The law bars an "operational relationship" with the old owner, including "cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm."

On September 25, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14352, "Saving TikTok While Protecting National Security." It approved a deal and set two conditions that matter for creators:

- The deal puts the operation of the algorithms and code, and content-moderation decisions, "under the control of the new joint venture."
- It requires all recommendation models that use US user data "to be retrained and monitored" by trusted security partners.

The order says what must happen. It does not say when retraining must finish, what it must change, or how users would notice. That gap explains most of the confusion since.

## What the joint venture announced on January 23, 2026

TikTok published the joint venture's announcement on its newsroom on January 23, 2026. Fortune had reported on December 19, 2025 that the deal was set to close on January 22, 2026. The announcement made these commitments:

- **Algorithm:** the joint venture "will retrain, test, and update the content recommendation algorithm on U.S. user data." The algorithm "will be secured in Oracle's U.S. cloud environment."
- **Moderation:** the joint venture has "decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and content moderation."
- **Global reach:** interoperability is meant to ensure "U.S. creators can be discovered" and businesses can operate globally.
- **Commerce stays global:** TikTok's global US entities manage "e-commerce, advertising, and marketing."
- **Ownership:** Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX each hold 15%. ByteDance keeps 19.9%.

CNN reported on May 29, 2026 that the joint venture said it would continue to license the algorithm from ByteDance before retraining and reviewing it. So the US feed did not start from a new system. It started from ByteDance's system, with a promise to retrain it.

## Timeline: what happened and who said it

The table separates official statements from reports and rumours. "Official" means TikTok, the joint venture or the US government said it.

| Date | Event | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Executive Order 14352 requires retraining of recommendation models that use US data | Official |
| Dec 19, 2025 | Fortune reports that TikTok agreed a joint venture deal with Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX | Reported |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Joint venture announced; "will retrain, test, and update" the algorithm | Official |
| Late Jan 2026 | Multi-day US outage, attributed to a winter-storm power failure at a data center; claims of political censorship spread | Outage reported; censorship claims unproven |
| Feb 4, 2026 | NPR: eight researchers find no evidence of targeted suppression; a TikTok spokeswoman says no algorithm changes were made | Reported |
| Feb 15, 2026 | CNBC: Forrester analyst says most users find "the algorithm hasn't meaningfully changed" | Reported |
| Mar 3 to 4, 2026 | Second Oracle data-center outage; posting lags for about 20 hours | Reported |
| Apr 19, 2026 | Spectrum News: students describe more repeat videos and lower reach | Anecdote |
| April 2026 | Blog claim that the US feed switched to an Oracle-retrained model | Rumour |
| May 29, 2026 | Senator Markey: the joint venture "failed to explain" what retraining means | Official (US Senate) |
| Jul 20, 2026 | US Creator Rewards terms now issued by TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC | Official |

## What is confirmed

Four things are on the record from primary sources.

- **Retraining is promised, not reported done.** The January 23 announcement uses the future tense. We found no later statement from the joint venture that announces a finished retraining or a switch date.
- **Congress has no detail either.** On May 29, 2026, Senator Markey wrote that the joint venture "failed to explain" what retraining the recommendation algorithm means, or how it would prevent manipulation. He asked whether retraining covers the whole system or parts, which data it uses, and "What is the timeline for the retraining?" He requested answers by June 18. We found no public reply.
- **The joint venture runs US moderation.** Trust and safety decisions for US users sit with the joint venture, by the order and by its own announcement.
- **The joint venture runs the US payout program.** The US Creator Rewards terms, last updated July 20, 2026, are issued by TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which decides eligibility and calculation "in its sole discretion." Payments are handled by a separate company group the terms call TT Commerce & Global Services (BD TikTok USA LLC and its affiliates).

## What is noise

**The April 2026 switch.** SocialPilot, a social media tool company, has a section titled "April 2026: US Recommendation Algorithm Transitions to the Oracle-Retrained, US-Only Model." Its cited source is an April 19, 2026 Spectrum News report. That report quotes Syracuse University students. One said the feed shows "a lot of repeat videos." Another said her group's reach dropped in "the past week or two." The report contains no statement from TikTok or the joint venture, and no data. Treat the April switch as a rumour until the joint venture confirms it.

**Targeted censorship.** In late January 2026, users claimed TikTok suppressed posts about ICE raids and Jeffrey Epstein. NPR reported on February 4, 2026 that eight academics studied more than 100,000 videos. Around the outage, "posts about all of these topics dropped to almost zero", political or not. The researchers also warned that small-scale removals "not visible in the overall trends" cannot be ruled out, because TikTok does not give researchers the access to check.

**Outages read as algorithm changes.** Both outages disrupted posting and view counts, according to reports. A blog post by AlmCorp quotes a joint venture post from March 3, 2026: "Creators may temporarily experience lags in posting content." A clip posted during an outage can stall for reasons that have nothing to do with ranking.

## Why your reach could still change

No evidence of a switch does not mean nothing will change. Three arguments point the other way.

First, retraining on a different data set changes results even with no intent. Jim Johnston, a partner at the law firm Davis+Gilbert, told CNBC that some changes to content suggestions "are bound to occur simply due to the changed data set."

Second, the joint venture controls moderation. The Community Guidelines decide which videos are eligible for the For You feed (FYF), TikTok's main recommendation feed. Who enforces those rules for US users can also shift outcomes, with no change to the ranking model.

Third, Benjamin Guinaudeau, one of the researchers, told NPR that TikTok can say almost anything about algorithm changes "and we can't verify it." Neither a denial nor a rumour is testable from outside.

**This is our reading; TikTok has not said it.** If US retraining weights US engagement more heavily, clips that perform well with US viewers could gain, and clips aimed at non-US audiences could lose US distribution. TikTok's recommendation explainer already uses the viewer's region and the video's region as signals, so this would be a change of degree, not of kind. The joint venture's promise that "U.S. creators can be discovered" globally argues against a sealed US-only feed.

## What to do now: diagnose a reach drop before you blame the algorithm

1. **Check eligibility first.** The Community Guidelines say FYF ineligibility appears in TikTok's analytics tool. One flagged video explains more than any rumour. See [shadowbans](https://fastclips.app/learn/shadowbans).
2. **Check outage dates.** Compare your drop with the late-January and March 3 to 4, 2026 outages, and with any outage reports on the day you posted.
3. **Split your traffic by country.** In TikTok Studio, compare the share of US viewers before and after the drop. TikTok says these locations come from predictive models, so look for large shifts, not small ones.
4. **Compare like with like.** Use the same format, length and source across two periods. A new format or a weaker source explains many drops.
5. **Count your competition.** If many clippers posted the same moment, the similarity check can replace near-identical videos. See [same clip, many accounts](https://fastclips.app/learn/tiktok-similar-clips-campaign-saturation).
6. **Do not rebuild on a rumour.** Change your format only when your own data over several weeks shows a pattern.
7. **Spread platform risk.** Post the strongest clips to YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels as well, within each campaign's rules.

## What to watch next

These events would be real news for creators. None has happened as of October 4, 2026:

- A joint venture statement that names a retraining date, or says retraining is complete.
- A public reply to the questions in Senator Markey's May 29 letters.
- A US-specific version of the Transparency Center's recommendation explainer. The current one does not mention the joint venture.
- Researcher access to the US recommender, which the NPR researchers asked for.

Until then, treat any article that dates a US algorithm switch as a claim to verify. For other ranking myths tested against TikTok's own text, see [TikTok algorithm myths](https://fastclips.app/learn/tiktok-algorithm-myths).

## Questions

### Is the US TikTok app a different app now?

No. US users kept the same app. Reuters reported in July 2025 that TikTok was building a separate US app, and TikTok called the story "factually inaccurate." The January 2026 joint venture announcement did not introduce a new app.

### Does the joint venture affect creators outside the US?

It covers US user data, the US algorithm and US moderation. The joint venture says interoperability keeps the global experience, so non-US creators can still reach US viewers, and US creators can still be discovered abroad.

### Who pays US Creator Rewards now?

The US terms, last updated July 20, 2026, are issued by TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. They say that TT Commerce & Global Services, defined as BD TikTok USA LLC and its affiliates, is "solely responsible for any payment or financial obligations" in the program.

### Did Oracle write a new algorithm?

No public source says so. CNN reported that the joint venture licenses the algorithm from ByteDance and then retrains and reviews it. Oracle hosts the system and acts as the trusted security partner.

### Did the outages delete my views?

TikTok has not said that views were deleted. Reports describe lags in posting and wrong view counts during the outages. Compare counts again a few days after service returns.

### Where can I read the primary documents?

Executive Order 14352 is on govinfo.gov. The joint venture announcement is on TikTok's newsroom. Senator Markey's letters are linked from his press release of May 29, 2026.

## Sources

1. [Executive Order 14352: Saving TikTok While Protecting National Security (September 25, 2025)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202500957/html/DCPD-202500957.htm)
2. [TikTok Newsroom: Announcement from the new TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC (January 23, 2026)](https://newsroom.tiktok.com/announcement-from-the-new-tiktok-usds-joint-venture-llc?lang=en)
3. [Senator Markey: Markey presses TikTok, Oracle on national security concerns (May 29, 2026)](https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-markey-presses-tiktok-oracle-on-national-security-concerns-with-new-tiktok-us-entity)
4. [TikTok Creator Rewards Program Terms (US, last updated July 20, 2026)](https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/global/creator-rewards-program-us/en)
5. [TikTok Transparency Center: Introduction to the TikTok recommendation system](https://www.tiktok.com/transparency/en/recommendation-system)
6. [NPR: Researchers say no evidence of TikTok censorship, but they remain wary (February 4, 2026)](https://www.npr.org/2026/02/04/nx-s1-5701409/tiktok-censorship-report-epstein)
7. [CNBC: After a shaky start, TikTok's U.S. joint venture lands on its feet (February 15, 2026)](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/16/tiktok-us-joint-venture-user-data-no-mass-exodus-oracle-mgx-silver-lake-larry-ellison-trump.html)
8. [CNN: Sen. Ed Markey questions the TikTok spin-off deal (May 29, 2026)](https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/29/tech/tiktok-spinoff-deal-markey-letter-national-security)
9. [Fortune: TikTok agrees U.S. joint venture deal with Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX (December 19, 2025)](https://fortune.com/2025/12/19/tiktok-agrees-u-s-joint-venture-deal-with-oracle-silver-lake-and-mgx/)
10. [Spectrum News: TikTok users face uncertainty as platform shifts algorithm (April 19, 2026)](https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2026/04/19/tiktok-users-face-uncertainty-as-platform-shifts-algorithm)
11. [AlmCorp: TikTok down again in the US, Oracle's second data center outage (March 2026)](https://almcorp.com/blog/tiktok-oracle-data-center-outage-us-2026/)
12. [Social Media Today: TikTok refutes claim it is developing a US-only version (July 2025)](https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-refutes-claim-its-developing-us-only-version/752746/)