By: Rachel Rohrbaugh
An Update to TikTok’s Privacy Policy
On January 22, 2026, millions of TikTok users in the United States received a notice that TikTok’s privacy policy had changed. And, to keep scrolling, they would have to accept the new terms. Two changes to TikTok’s policy sparked the interest of the privacy community along with the general public—the language around collecting “citizenship or immigration status” and GPS location data.
Although the citizenship and immigration data collection sparked widespread public concern, the language has been in TikTok’s terms since August 2024. The language was likely prompted by California’s AB-947 bill, which added citizenship and immigration status to the state’s definition of sensitive personal information. California legislation and the public’s reaction demonstrate just how private we are starting to consider this type of information.
GPS data collection, the seemingly more innocuous of the two changes, is likely the greater privacy concern. Previously, TikTok was only collecting location data via your device’s IP address. This location data is generally only accurate to the city level. Now, TikTok has updated its terms to collect GPS location data to within several meters.
TikTok’s Data Sharing Policy
As TikTok was negotiating terms with the Trump Administration late in 2025, TikTok added language to its policies that covered its intent to comply with law enforcement and “regulatory authorities, where relevant.” Up until April 25, 2025, TikTok’s policy was to notify users before disclosing their data to law enforcement. Now, company policy is to only tell users about data requests for their information “where required by law.”
TikTok’s Data and the Fourth Amendment
So, what would happen if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requested a TikTok user’s geolocation and citizenship data? If TikTok complied without requiring a warrant, would that constitute an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment?
Carpenter v. United States opened these questions up by holding that “a warrant is required in the rare case where the [user] has a legitimate privacy interest in records held by a third party.” Law professor Matthew Tokson synthesized the test that came out of Carpenter as follows: whether a user has a legitimate privacy interest in their data depends on (1) the revealing nature of the data captured; (2) the amount of data captured; and (3) whether the user voluntarily disclosed their information to others.
Although no court has had the opportunity to apply Carpenter to TikTok’s data collection, Tokson’s test suggests strong grounds for constitutional protection. Courts already treat geolocation data as private—private enough to use Carpenter to carve out an exception to the third-party doctrine which says that individuals assume the risk of giving their information away to a third party. Citizenship and immigration data are growing more sensitive as government data collection efforts and ICE removal operations expand. TikTok would argue that users voluntarily disclosed their data, but that claim is undermined by some of TikTok’s own policies. For example, TikTok continues to collect location data even when a user turns off their Location Services.
What You Can Do After Clicking “Agree”
As the data we hand to third parties grows more sensitive and precise, the concerns that drove Carpenter’s Fourth Amendment protection keep resurfacing. Until the courts settle the questions concerning TikTok’s data collection, users worried about their privacy should take concrete steps to protect themselves. Turn off Location Services to minimize the accuracy of GPS location tracking. Avoid posting content or participating in surveys that reveal citizenship or immigration status. And recognize that even when the information you give to TikTok feels private, the law hasn’t yet decided whether it agrees.
Sources:
[1] Danny Bradbury, TikTok’s Privacy Update Mentions Immigration Status. Here’s Why., Malwarebytes (Jan. 30, 2026), https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/01/tiktoks-privacy-update-mentions-immigration-status-heres-why#:~:text=And%20TikTok%20is%20not%20asking,947%2C%20signed%20in%20October%202023.
[2]Id.
[3]Id.
[4]Id.; Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.140 (Deering 2025) (amended according to California’s AB-947 bill).
[5]Q&A: Should You Worry About TikTok’s New Terms of Service?, UVAToday, https://news.virginia.edu/content/qa-should-you-worry-about-tiktoks-new-terms-service.
[6]Id.
[7]Id.
[8]TikTok Law Enforcement Guidelines, TikTok (Jan. 22, 2026), https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/global/law-enforcement/en; Emily Baker-White, TikTok Won’t Say If It’s Giving ICE Your Data, Forbes (Oct. 21, 2025), https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2025/10/21/tiktok-wont-say-if-its-giving-ice-your-data/.
[9]TikTok Law Enforcement Guidelines, supra note 8; Emily Baker-White, supra note 8.
[10]585 U.S. 296, 319 (2018).
[11]Matthew Tokson, The Carpenter Test as a Transformation of Fourth Amendment Law, 2 Univ. Ill. L. Rev. 507, 518 (2023).
[12]Muzaffar Chishti and Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, Seeking to Ramp Up Deportations, The Trump Administration Quietly Expands a Vast Web of Data, Migration Policy Institute (May 29, 2025), https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/trump-ice-data-surveillance; ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Statistics, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, https://www.ice.gov/statistics (last visited Feb. 6, 2026).
[13]Location Information on TikTok, TikTok Support, https://www.tiktok.com/support/faq_detail?id=7543897457726593542&category=web_account (last visited Feb. 6, 2026).