TikTok is clawing back users after a brief but telling stumble. The short-form video giant has bounced back to over 90 million daily active users in the U.S., recovering from a dip to 86-88 million that followed its transition to American ownership in late January. The temporary exodus sent users flocking to upstart rivals like UpScrolled and Skylight Social, but the rush appears short-lived as creators and viewers return to the platform they know best.
TikTok just survived its first real test under new ownership, and the data tells a story of user anxiety, competitor opportunism, and the stickiness of social media habits. The platform's daily active user count in the U.S. dipped to between 86 and 88 million immediately after American investors took control of its operations in late January, down from its typical 92 million average. But within days, TikTok clawed back to more than 90 million users, proving that even a rattled user base isn't ready to abandon their For You Page just yet.
The numbers from digital intelligence firm Similarweb paint a picture of a platform momentarily vulnerable. As TikTok wobbled, alternative video apps seized the moment. UpScrolled, a newcomer in the short-form video space, hit 138,500 daily active users at its January 28 peak before cooling to 68,000. Skylight Social reached 81,200 daily actives and told TechCrunch it had signed up 380,000 total users by late January. Today, Skylight's daily active count has dropped to 56,300.
The user flight wasn't really about the ownership change itself. Instead, it was triggered by a perfect storm of privacy concerns and technical disasters that landed right as the transition finalized. TikTok updated its privacy policy to include permission for precise GPS location tracking, which Wired reported sent users into a panic. The timing looked suspicious, even though the location data likely connects to TikTok's testing of a "Nearby" feed feature to surface local creator content.
