Older Adults Cautious About TikTok Shutdown Even After U.S. Ownership Deal Appears Close

TikTok’s algorithmic For You feed and thumb scrolling have been huge drivers of their success, says Cliff Lampe, social media professor at the University of Michigan School of Information. Copycats haven’t quite been able to duplicate that success.

Through the years, numerous celebrities planted a flag on the platform as well.

Music legend Bob Dylan, 84, signed on Jan. 14.

AARP maintains a presence on TikTok too.

Lots of older adults scroll through TikTok

About a third of the adult U.S. population uses the platform, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted the first half of 2024. Twenty-six percent are ages of 50 to 64; 10 percent are 65 and older.

A more recent Pew survey notes that a fifth of U.S. adults now get news on TikTok, up from just 3 percent in 2020.

According to eMarketer forecasts, 9.1 million U.S. TikTok users are ages 45 to 54, 8.8 million 55 to 64 and 8 million 65 and older.

Even under a cloud, TikTok was still the 11th most popular free app in the Apple App Store on Friday , and No. 3 in the Google Play Store.

What’s next for TikTok content creators, users?

TV writer Jamin, @michaelwjaminwriter, expects the absence of TikTok, were that still to happen, to damage his business.

“I already post on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. But the TikTok algorithm is the special sauce. It allows people to go viral. The other platforms don’t have the same reach. Ultimately, I’ll go where the fish are.”

Early on, schools of fish began swimming in another Chinese social networking app known as Xiaohongshu in its native country and RedNote in the U.S. The app temporarily topped the free download charts in both the App Store and Play Store.

“The most popular creators have multiple channels where you can find them,” says Lampe, the Michigan professor. The list may include Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, as well as lesser-known apps such as RedNote, ByteDance-owned Lemon8 and Texas-based Clapper.

Will the TikTok app remain?

 While TikTok’s fate is still unsettled, it seems likely to survive as a spin-off app under a joint-venture, whose investors reportedly include Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, tech entrepreneur Michael Dell and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The proposed deal has been valued at around $14 billion.

TikTok creators, some users not concerned about data privacy

In the meantime, many TikTok diehards don’t see a difference between data collected on them from TikTok and data collected by the likes of Meta and Google. The Supreme Court cited concerns about the app gathering detailed information from users, including their contact lists, that could pose problems for national security.

“From an individual users’ point of view, worrying about the country is a little abstract,” Lampe says. “Their own personal risk in these sites has always felt low, which is why there’s never been a populist cry to get rid of TikTok. [It’s] because the risk of privacy violation there feels no different than the other platforms. Most people don’t feel like [they] have any national security secrets.”

New Yorker Helen Polise who has amassed 1.2 million followers for her @themuthership handle on TikTok, agrees.

“Every other app is taking our data and using it and targeting us with ads and collecting our information. ... People on TikTok don’t really care about the data problem. They’re just like, ‘This is my livelihood. If China wants photos of my dancing videos, whatever.’ That’s the attitude.”

This story, originally published Jan. 17, 2025, was updated with President Trump’s latest executive order supporting a proposed deal to pave the way for a version of TikTok to be under a group of American investors that pauses enforcement of the TikTok ban.