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By posting content on TikTok, users grant TikTok USDS Joint Venture a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, assignable, and sublicensable license to reproduce, distribute, adapt, create derivative works from, and publicly display that content, including for the purpose of training and improving TikTok's machine learning models and algorithms. This license extends to service providers and business partners through multiple sublicensing tiers.
This analysis describes what TikTok's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision authorizes TikTok to use all user-generated content, including Input submitted to generative AI interfaces, as training data for machine learning models and algorithms, and the license is designated as irrevocable and sublicensable through multiple tiers. The license persists after account deletion to the extent that content has been incorporated into other users' content, as stated in Section 3.6.
⚠ The license to use posted content, including for AI model training, applies as written to all content submitted to the Platform.
⚠ Content incorporated into other users' posts remains subject to the license even after account deletion, per Section 3.6.
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"By creating, inputting, publishing, and otherwise providing Your Content on or to the Platform, you grant to TikTok USDS Joint Venture a license to use Your Content that is: non-exclusive, irrevocable, and royalty-free (you retain the rights to use Your Content elsewhere, although we don't owe you any payments for sharing Your Content with us) assignable and sub-licensable, including through multiple tiers (so we can, for example, work with service providers and business partners to help distribute Your Content); and worldwide (so we can show your content to a global audience). Our license to use Your Content includes our rights to access, reproduce (e.g. to copy), distribute, share, download, adapt or make derivative works (e.g. to translate and/or create captions), perform, and communicate Your Content to the public (e.g. to display it), for the purposes of operating, improving, and providing the Platform and developing new technologies (including training, testing, and improving our machine learning models and algorithms) and services for TikTok USDS Joint Venture and our service providers and business partners, consistent with these Terms and subject to your Platform settings.Excerpt from TikTok's Terms of Service
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: The AI training use of user content may require evaluation under emerging U.S. state AI transparency and training data disclosure laws as they are enacted, including in California and other jurisdictions with active AI governance legislation. The FTC Act's unfair or deceptive practices framework may be relevant to the disclosure adequacy of the AI training license grant. The irrevocable and sublicensable nature of the license may also engage copyright law considerations, particularly regarding derivative works created by AI systems trained on user content. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: High. The provision authorizes use of user content for AI model training without compensation and through multiple sublicensing tiers, including to unnamed service providers and business partners. The irrevocability of the license and its survival post-account deletion create persistent data governance obligations that compliance teams must track. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: California users may have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act regarding the use of personal information contained in user-generated content for AI training purposes. EU and EEA users are not the primary audience of this U.S.-specific document, but multinational organizations deploying TikTok for business should assess whether content posted by EU-based employees triggers GDPR Article 6 lawful basis requirements for AI training data use. Minors' content posted under parental consent terms may create additional exposure under COPPA. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: The sublicensable and multi-tier nature of the license means TikTok may pass content use rights to third-party AI service providers without individual user notification. Procurement teams integrating TikTok into content workflows should assess whether employee-generated content posted to TikTok business accounts is subject to this license and whether that conflicts with internal IP ownership policies. The license terms assert no compensation obligation to users, which may face scrutiny in jurisdictions with performer or creator rights frameworks. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should audit consent mechanisms to confirm that the AI training license grant is adequately disclosed at the point of account creation and content posting, particularly for minors using the Platform under parental consent. Data mapping exercises should account for user content as a potential input to AI training pipelines operated by TikTok and its service providers. As U.S. state AI training data disclosure legislation evolves, this provision warrants periodic review.
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This provision authorizes TikTok to use all user-generated content, including Input submitted to generative AI interfaces, as training data for machine learning models and algorithms, and the license is designated as irrevocable and sublicensable through multiple tiers. The license persists after account deletion to the extent that content has been incorporated into other users' content, as stated in Section 3.6.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by TikTok.