TikTok Will Continue in the U.S.: What the New Deal Means for Small Businesses (January 2026)

TikTok will continue operating in the U.S. This post explains what happened, what it means for your marketing right now, and how to make the most of the situation. You’ll also see how social media management tools like Hookle can help you stay consistent and prepared if the landscape shifts again.

Table of Contents

1. What Happened in a Nutshell

2. What Changes for Your Marketing

3. What You Should Do Now (Practical Checklist)

4. Protect Your Workflow With Social Media Management Tools

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After about a year of uncertainty, TikTok has finalised a new U.S.-based structure that allows the platform to keep operating in the United States. For small businesses, this is mainly good news because it means you can keep posting and marketing on TikTok without suddenly losing access to your audience.

1. What Happened in a Nutshell

On Jan 23, 2026, TikTok said it will keep operating in the U.S. under a new U.S.-based setup for how the service is run. The change was made to address U.S. government concerns, mainly around data security, and to avoid a potential ban.

After months of uncertainty, on Jan 23, 2026, TikTok confirmed it will keep running in the U.S.

From a user and small business perspective, the core experience stays familiar. You can keep using the same app, keep publishing content, and keep reaching your audience as usual. Most of what’s changing is happening behind the scenes, focused on how U.S. data is handled and how the platform is overseen.

Even so, because these kinds of shifts can sometimes influence how content is distributed over time, it’s worth keeping an eye on your performance metrics and audience behaviour while continuing business as normal.

2. What Changes for Your Marketing

For most small businesses, your day-to-day TikTok marketing can continue normally. The biggest change is that TikTok’s U.S. operations are being handled under a new structure to address U.S. government concerns, mainly around data security, so the platform can keep running.

For most small businesses, your day-to-day TikTok marketing can continue normally

When big behind-the-scenes changes happen on a platform as large as TikTok, they can affect stability and how the service operates. This was already seen early on, when some U.S. users experienced technical issues and were unable to post during the transition to the new U.S.-operated setup.

These changes can also influence how people feel about the platform. The U.S. TikTok deal has been widely discussed in a political context, and public reactions may vary depending on individual views and what people see in the news.

This doesn’t mean your reach will suddenly change overnight, but it’s a good reason to keep an eye on how your audience responds, how your videos perform, and how they’re being shown. Based on what you see, decide how much you want to rely on TikTok.

If you notice more negative comments, lower engagement, or follower drop-offs, you can keep posting, but also put more effort into another channel and into owned touchpoints like your email list, blogs or website, so you’re not dependent on one platform.

You can track these signals in TikTok’s analytics, and if you want a broader view, use social listening tools to monitor sentiment around your brand and content.

If you’re in the U.S.

• Your audience and the app stay the same: Keep posting as usual. No need to switch apps, rebuild your workflow, or move your audience right now.

• More stability, but headlines can still happen: Stay calm and keep a light plan B. Back up your best videos and make sure you also post at least occasionally on one other channel, so you’re not fully dependent on one platform.

• Data, security, and compliance are the main changes: You don’t need to do anything specific here. Just keep your account secure with strong passwords and 2-step verification where available.

• The algorithm may evolve over time, so keep an eye on performance: Track views, watch time, shares, saves, and comments weekly. If results drop, test a new hook, shorten the intro, and repeat the formats that still perform.

If you’re not in the U.S.

• Your posting workflow stays the same: Continue with your current plan. No changes needed just because of the U.S. news.

• If your followers are in the U.S., this still might affect you: Keep serving that audience normally. If you sell to the U.S., make sure your TikTok bio link and landing page are clear and up to date.

3. What You Should Do Now (Practical Checklist)

Even though TikTok is continuing, this is still a good moment to tighten your content operations so you are never caught off guard again.

1. Keep your TikTok content cadence steady: Consistency wins. If you reduced posting during the uncertainty, restart with a realistic schedule you can sustain.

2. Back up your best-performing content: Save your top videos, captions, hooks, and cover text in a folder you control. Repurposing is much easier when your assets are organised and stored safely in one place.

3. Diversify without overreacting: Don’t abandon TikTok. Instead, share your strongest ideas on at least one additional channel where your audience overlaps, such as Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, or LinkedIn, depending on your niche. Read more on how to choose the right channels for your business.

4. Strengthen “owned” touchpoints: Use TikTok to drive followers to a place you control: your email list, website, booking link, storefront, or Google Business Profile. If any platform changes, you still keep the relationship.

4. Protect Your Workflow With Social Media Management Tools

Instead of rebuilding your process whenever headlines change, keep your publishing steady and share content across other channels alongside TikTok. When something performs well, reuse it with small edits on other platforms rather than starting from scratch each time.

To protect your future workflows, it can help to build a presence on a few additional platforms, so you’re not dependent on one channel like TikTok. Nowadays, most platforms are easy to set up, and getting started is typically free.

With Hookle, you can manage multiple platforms in one simple app

Managing multiple accounts can feel daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. With a social media management tool like Hookle, you can plan, create, and schedule content across multiple platforms - including Google Business Profile - in one simple app, making it much easier to stay consistent while reducing risk.

Bottom line: TikTok is continuing in the U.S., so you can keep marketing as usual. The smart move is building a flexible routine that keeps you visible even if the landscape shifts again.

Don’t just take our word for it, try it yourself. Download Hookle for free today and keep your content plan on track.