The recent TikTok Oracle deal changes car dealership video content performance, which makes other platforms important during the transition.
TikTok has been an interesting social media platform over the past year or so. First, it seemed like U.S. users were going to lose access to the platform, but then the government stepped in and changed that. Now, the way videos perform in America will change. The latest deal impacts users in the United States and could present challenges for many dealerships.
Dealerships need to be flexible during the TikTok algorithm changes, which could require retraining
TikTok isn’t disappearing, but the platform car dealerships use to reach young buyers is changing in January 2026. ByteDance signed a deal with Oracle to create a new U.S. entity with a retrained algorithm using only American user data. Your vehicle walkthroughs and test drive videos might not perform the same way after the transition.
Dealerships need to document current video performance now, understand how the algorithm changes could affect reach, and keep Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts active as backup channels. The existential threat is over, but your video marketing strategy needs to adapt to a TikTok that operates differently under American governance and data management.
Could this deal require social media marketing strategy changes?
The new TikTok Oracle deal will have a joint venture impact on the marketing world. The deal removes the shutdown scenario that marketers feared, but brings in new questions about the algorithm and its control. Other questions arise surrounding data and content moderation, but the new deal offers American oversight, which makes sense. This new deal creates a new algorithm using only American user data, which could allow it to function much better for American companies, but that’s yet to be seen. Oracle will provide oversight regarding U.S. data storage and algorithm retraining.
A new contingency plan under the new TikTok Oracle deal
The deal is expected to close on January 22, 2026, and marketers need to be prepared for changes. While there shouldn’t be a shutdown scenario any longer, marketers will need to be flexible regarding the new algorithm. It’s important to have a backup plan, and in this case, that means continuing to use Instagram Reels for automotive marketing and posting YouTube shorts that help car dealers get noticed. While marketers will need this flexibility, they no longer have to worry about a TikTok ban in the United States.
How will this impact automotive brands?
The new TikTok Oracle deal shouldn’t have a major impact on car dealerships, which focus on localized data for marketing, but the same can’t be said of global brands. This means brands like Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, etc., will need to measure the performance of TikTok video marketing when the new deal closes and compare it to the performance before the deal. It’s possible these global brands will need to create American-based marketing strategies to take advantage of the new algorithm that focuses on U.S.-only data.
Does this mean new campaigns focused only on the U.S.?
Yes, it certainly does. The user data in the United States will be physically separated from the rest of the world and managed by Oracle. Some operations and data might continue to function and interact with ByteDance-controlled systems, but most data won’t. Local marketing efforts might not see much of a change and could continue to function properly, but global campaigns will likely require redundancy as brands push to maintain a strong presence in the United States on the TikTok platform, which has become the go-to platform for marketing to younger adults.
What should marketing teams do to prepare for this TikTok Oracle deal?
This new deal goes into effect in a few weeks, and marketers need to document their current campaigns and how they perform before the algorithm change. The focus should be on what drives reach and conversion, with marketing teams ready to analyze the new changes and how they perform. When the change happens, some campaigns might continue to perform well, while others could be impacted. For this reason, a strategic plan with constant monitoring is necessary, along with a backup plan that implements greater use of Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
The new TikTok Oracle deal will change the way data is stored and used in the United States, but that also means American users won’t lose access to this social media platform. That’s good news for users and marketers, but the new algorithm will take some getting used to. Is your marketing team ready for these changes?
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