You technically keep the copyright in your content, but you grant TikTok an unconditional, irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free, fully transferable worldwide license to use, modify, adapt and redistribute it in any format, on any platform, including ones not invented yet. You also license your name, image, voice and likeness, waive your moral rights and your privacy and publicity rights in your content, and you are barred from earning revenue from your content while TikTok explicitly keeps all revenue it generates. This matches nearly every critical red flag in this category.
TikTok reserves the right to disable your account at any time, at its sole discretion, including for things that merely might cause damage or that are only alleged violations. There is no notice requirement, no cure period and no general appeal process in these terms. Account deletion requires contacting TikTok rather than a self-service flow described here, and once deleted you cannot reactivate the account or retrieve any of your content.
The service is provided as is with all implied warranties excluded, TikTok disclaims liability for loss of profit, goodwill, opportunity, data and all indirect losses, and any remaining loss is capped at what you paid TikTok in the last 12 months, which for most users of a free app is zero. You also irrevocably release TikTok from all claims connected to disputes with third parties. The saving graces are explicit carve-outs preserving statutory consumer rights and liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence and for fraud, plus a promise to repair or compensate for device damage caused by defective content supplied without reasonable care.
The terms are governed by Singapore law and every dispute must be finally resolved by arbitration at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre before a panel of three arbitrators, in English, seated in Singapore. For an ordinary consumer anywhere in the Rest-of-World region, a three-arbitrator SIAC proceeding is prohibitively expensive and geographically inaccessible, which in practice removes any realistic path to a remedy. There is no small claims carve-out and no local court option except for specific jurisdictions like Brazil, where local courts and Brazilian law apply instead.
TikTok can amend the terms at any time and only promises commercially reasonable efforts to generally notify users of material changes, while telling you to check the terms regularly yourself. Continued use after a change counts as acceptance, and your only alternative is to stop using the service. There is no advance notice period, no direct individual notification promise, and no right to keep using the service under the old terms.
Detailed privacy practices live in TikTok's separate Privacy Policy, so this document only partially covers the category. What is here raises concerns: merely using the service counts as consent to the Privacy Policy, automated systems analyze your content for tailored advertising, and TikTok reserves the right to disclose your identity to third parties who claim your content violates their rights. The Australian supplement confirms age data is used for ad targeting as well as safety.
The indemnity is one-way and broad: you must defend TikTok, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates and all their officers, directors, employees, agents and advisors against any claims, costs and attorneys' fees arising from any breach of the terms by you or anyone using your account. TikTok offers no reciprocal indemnity to you and there is no cap on your exposure. A separate clause makes you liable for TikTok's losses from any content warranty breach, and the Australian version is even wider and survives termination.
You accept these terms simply by opening or using the app, with no separate click or checkbox required, and continued use after changes counts as acceptance of new terms. The agreement also pulls in the Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines by reference, and using the service is treated as consent to the Privacy Policy. The scope is broad, covering all TikTok websites, apps, products and content, though the age requirement of 13 and over is clearly stated with stricter local rules.