Terms of Service

Content & IP Rights · Context

Music, music library, intellectual property and branded content policies apply to content you post

Four listed Additional Terms relate to posting content: the Music Terms apply when you post content that includes music from the music library or your personal device; the Commercial Music Library Terms apply if you are a commercial entity or want to post content with music from the Commercial Music Library; the Intellectual Property Policy applies to all Platform content protected by intellectual property rights; and the Branded Content Policy applies when you post content promoting a third-party brand or its products or services in exchange for payment or another incentive.

Details not recorded for this card

Supporting quotations

These terms apply when you post content on the Platform that includes music sourced from the music library or your personal device.

These terms apply if you are a commercial entity or you want to post content on the Platform that includes music sourced from the Commercial Music Library.

This policy applies to all content on the Platform that is protected by intellectual property rights.

This policy applies when you post content on the Platform that promotes a third-party brand or its products or services in exchange for payment or any other incentive.

Qualifications & exceptions

• Each policy applies only in the situation its description names.

Not stated here

• The text of these four policies is not supplied in this document.

Content & IP Rights · User right or choice

You own Your Content, including AI prompts and outputs, as between you and TikTok

Your Content means content you create, import, upload, publish or generate with the Platform, including messages, and also prompts, questions, files and other information you submit to TikTok’s AI-powered interfaces (Input) together with the responses they generate (Output). As between you and TikTok USDS Joint Venture, you own Your Content, except for TikTok Content and unless the Terms expressly state otherwise. Ownership does not stop the licenses you grant in the following paragraphs.

Supporting quotations

Your Content includes content you create, import, upload, publish, or generate with the Platform, including messages.

Your Content also includes prompts, questions, files, and other types of information that you submit to our AI-powered interfaces ("Input") together with the responses those interfaces generate ("Output").

Except with respect to TikTok Content and unless expressly stated otherwise, as between you and TikTok USDS Joint Venture, you own Your Content.

Qualifications & exceptions

• Ownership is stated only as between you and TikTok USDS Joint Venture.
• Excludes TikTok Content and anything the Terms expressly state otherwise.

Not stated here

• The Terms do not say here how ownership of Output is treated against third parties or other users.

Content & IP Rights · Restriction or exception

AI output may not be unique to you, and your ownership of Output does not extend to other users’ output

Because of how generative AI works, output may not be unique to one user. Your ownership of Output does not extend to other users’ output, so another user may receive output that matches or resembles yours without it being yours.

Supporting quotations

Due to the nature of generative AI, output may not be unique to a specific user, and your ownership of Output does not extend to other users' output.

Not stated here

• The Terms do not say what happens if two users receive the same Output.

Content & IP Rights · Permission or license

Feedback you submit can be used for any purpose without compensation, and TikTok owns what it builds from it

If you choose to submit comments, ideas or feedback, you give TikTok permission to use them in connection with the Platform and any other services it chooses, for any purpose, without restriction or compensation to you. TikTok does not have to consider, act on, return or keep them confidential, and it will own all rights in anything it develops based on them.

Supporting quotations

If you choose to submit comments, ideas, or feedback to us, you give us permission to use them in connection with the Platform and any other services that we choose, for any purpose, without any restriction or compensation to you.

You agree that we do not have to consider or act on them, return them, or keep them confidential. We will own all rights in anything we develop based on your comments, ideas, or feedback.

Qualifications & exceptions

• Applies only if you choose to submit comments, ideas or feedback.

Content & IP Rights · Restriction or exception

You warrant that you have all rights needed in Your Content, including music not taken from TikTok’s library

You represent and warrant that you have, and will continue to have, all necessary rights in Your Content, including the licenses, consents and permissions needed to create, post, input and distribute it on the Platform. The Terms say this includes any music you use that was not selected from the TikTok music library, and point to the Music Terms for more.

Supporting quotations

You represent and warrant that you have, and will continue to have, all necessary rights in and to Your Content, including licenses, consents, and permissions necessary to create, post, input, and distribute Your Content on the Platform.

this includes any music that you use which was not selected from the TikTok music library

Qualifications & exceptions

• The warranty continues for as long as you use Your Content on the Platform (“will continue to have”).

Not stated here

• The text of the linked Music Terms is not supplied here, so this card cannot say what they require.

Content & IP Rights · Restriction or exception

TikTok Content you may use stays owned by TikTok or its rights holders

TikTok may make certain content available for you to use in accordance with the Terms, including images, designs, videos, filters, text, music or sounds, called TikTok Content. TikTok, or the rights holders that let it provide that content, retain all rights in TikTok Content, so using it does not make it yours.

Supporting quotations

we may make certain content available on the Platform for you to use in accordance with these Terms, including images, designs, videos, filters, text, music, or sounds (“TikTok Content”). We, or the rights holders of such content that let us provide it to you, retain all rights in and to the TikTok Content.

Qualifications & exceptions

• You may use TikTok Content only in accordance with the Terms.

Cross-references

• referred to by (model-proposed): No commercial use of TikTok Content, another user’s content or generative AI features without permission — The commercial-use prohibition relies on the Section 3.5 definition of TikTok Content.

Content & IP Rights · Permission or license

You grant TikTok a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable, worldwide license to Your Content

To provide the Platform, TikTok needs a license from you. By creating, inputting, publishing or otherwise providing Your Content on or to the Platform, you grant TikTok USDS Joint Venture a license that is non-exclusive, irrevocable and royalty-free (you keep your rights to use Your Content elsewhere, but TikTok owes you no payment for sharing it); assignable and sub-licensable, including through multiple tiers (for example so TikTok can work with service providers and business partners to distribute your content); and worldwide.

Supporting quotations

To provide the Platform, we need certain rights from you (called a license).

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).

you grant us a license to use Your Content to operate, develop, improve, and provide the Platform, and to develop new technologies.

Qualifications & exceptions

• The license arises when you create, input, publish or otherwise provide Your Content on or to the Platform.
• The scope of the license is limited by the purposes in the next paragraph and “subject to your Platform settings”.

Not stated here

• The Terms do not state a time limit on the license other than calling it irrevocable.

Cross-references

• contrast (model-proposed): You can delete videos or all Your Content, but deleted content stays visible where other users have incorporated it — You may delete content, yet the license you grant TikTok is described as irrevocable and deleted content stays publicly accessible where other users incorporated it; the Terms do not reconcile the two beyond the stated exception.
• referred to by (model-proposed): You must not violate or exceed the license terms in Section 3.5 — The prohibition on violating or exceeding the license terms in Section 3.5 points to the licenses that section sets out, including the one granted to TikTok.

Content & IP Rights · Permission or license

The license lets TikTok copy, adapt and display Your Content to run the Platform and train its machine learning models

TikTok’s license covers rights to access, reproduce, distribute, share, download, adapt or make derivative works of (for example translations or captions), perform, and communicate Your Content to the public (for example by displaying it). The purposes are operating, improving and providing the Platform and developing new technologies, which the Terms say include training, testing and improving machine learning models and algorithms, and developing services for TikTok USDS Joint Venture and its service providers and business partners. It is stated to be consistent with the Terms and subject to your Platform settings.

Supporting quotations

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.

Qualifications & exceptions

• Subject to your Platform settings and consistent with the Terms.
• The examples of rights (“e.g.”) and purposes (“including”) are not complete lists.

Not stated here

• The Terms do not describe here which Platform settings limit the license, or whether any setting stops use of Your Content for model training.

Content & IP Rights · Permission or license

Depending on your sharing settings, every Platform user also gets a perpetual, irrevocable license to Your Content

Depending on your Platform usage, including your sharing activities and settings, you also grant each user of the Platform a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable and worldwide license to use Your Content, including to access, reproduce, distribute, share, download, adapt or make derivative works of it (for example to include it in their own content), perform and communicate it to the public, in accordance with the Terms. The plain-language summary says that if you make Your Content available to others, TikTok can show it to other users and those users may be able to use it too.

Supporting quotations

Depending on your Platform usage, including your sharing activities and settings, you also grant to each user of the Platform a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual and irrevocable, worldwide license to use Your Content

in accordance with these Terms.

If you choose to make Your Content available to others, we can show it to other users and those other users may be able to use Your Content too.

Qualifications & exceptions

• Depends on your Platform usage, including your sharing activities and settings.
• Exercised “in accordance with these Terms”.

Not stated here

• The Terms do not list which settings or sharing activities trigger this license, or what “perpetual and irrevocable” means for content you later delete.

Cross-references

• referred to by (model-proposed): You must not violate or exceed the license terms in Section 3.5 — The same prohibition also points to the license other users receive over Your Content in Section 3.5.

Content & IP Rights · Company practice

TikTok keeps its rights in the Platform and its generative AI features and reserves all rights not granted

TikTok retains all of its rights, title and interest, including intellectual property and other proprietary rights, in and to the Platform, including its generative AI-enabled features, and reserves all rights not expressly granted in the Terms.

Supporting quotations

We retain all our respective rights, title, and interest, including intellectual property and other proprietary rights, in and to the Platform, including its generative AI-enabled features, and we reserve all rights not expressly granted in these Terms.

We retain all our respective rights in and to the Platform and our technologies.

Content & IP Rights · Procedure

You agree to the Intellectual Property Policy and may report suspected infringement through TikTok’s forms

TikTok says it respects copyright and other intellectual property rights and expects you to do the same. You agree to the terms of its Intellectual Property Policy, and the summary says you must follow those additional rules. You can report suspected infringements of your intellectual property rights through separate copyright and trademark/counterfeiting reporting pages linked in the Terms.

Supporting quotations

We respect copyright and other intellectual property rights and expect for you to do the same. You agree to the terms of our Intellectual Property Policy. You can report suspected infringements of your intellectual property rights on the Platform here:

Copyright:

Trademark and Counterfeiting:

You should read our Intellectual Property Policy and must follow those additional rules.

Not stated here

• The text of the Intellectual Property Policy is not supplied here, so this card cannot say what rules it adds.
• The reporting pages are linked but their content is not supplied here.

Content & IP Rights · Restriction or exception

You may not present AI Output as human-made, including by removing or altering watermarks or markings

You agree not to represent, imply or otherwise create an impression that your Output is human-generated or generated without AI, including by removing, obscuring or altering any watermarks, content-authenticating metadata or other marking or disclosure applied to or associated with your Output.

Supporting quotations

Represent, imply or otherwise create an impression that your Output is human-generated or otherwise generated without the use of AI, including by removing, obscuring, or altering any watermarks, content-authenticating metadata, or other marking or disclosure applied to or associated with your Output

Qualifications & exceptions

• Includes removing, obscuring or altering watermarks, content-authenticating metadata or other marking.

Content & IP Rights · Context

Open source software in the Platform is under its own license terms

The Platform contains certain open source software. Each item of open source software is subject to its own applicable license terms, which the Terms say can be found at the linked Open Source Policy.

Supporting quotations

The Platform contains certain open source software. Each item of open source software is subject to its own applicable license terms, which can be found at

Qualifications & exceptions

• Each item is subject to its own license terms.

Not stated here

• The Open Source Policy is linked but its text is not supplied here, so this card cannot say which software or licenses it lists.

Content & IP Rights · Restriction or exception

You must not upload content that breaks the law, including without consent of people whose images appear

You must not upload Your Content in violation of applicable laws, including laws requiring the consent of the individuals whose images appear in it or their legally authorized representatives. The Terms define Your Content as content you create, import, upload, publish or generate with the Platform, including messages, and also the prompts and other information you submit to AI-powered interfaces (Input) together with the responses they generate (Output).

Supporting quotations

upload content in violation of applicable laws, including laws requiring the consent of individuals whose images appear in Your Content, or their legally authorized representatives

Your Content includes content you create, import, upload, publish, or generate with the Platform, including messages.

Qualifications & exceptions

• Applies to Your Content as defined in section 3.5, which includes AI Input and Output.

Content & IP Rights · Restriction or exception

No commercial use of TikTok Content, another user’s content or generative AI features without permission

You must not use TikTok Content, another user’s content or generative AI-enabled features for commercial purposes unless permitted by TikTok USDS Joint Venture or the user, respectively, including through applicable account settings. TikTok Content means content TikTok makes available for you to use in accordance with the Terms, such as images, designs, videos, filters, text, music or sounds, in which TikTok or its rights holders retain all rights.

Supporting quotations

use TikTok Content (as defined in Section 3.5), another user's content or generative AI-enabled features for commercial purposes unless permitted by TikTok USDS Joint Venture or the user, respectively (including via applicable account settings)

we may make certain content available on the Platform for you to use in accordance with these Terms, including images, designs, videos, filters, text, music, or sounds (“TikTok Content”). We, or the rights holders of such content that let us provide it to you, retain all rights in and to the TikTok Content.

Qualifications & exceptions

• Permission comes from TikTok USDS Joint Venture for TikTok Content and AI features, and from the user for that user’s content, including via account settings.

Not stated here

• The Terms do not define “commercial purposes” in this passage.

Cross-references

• refers to (model-proposed): TikTok Content you may use stays owned by TikTok or its rights holders — The commercial-use prohibition relies on the Section 3.5 definition of TikTok Content.

Content & IP Rights · Restriction or exception

You must not violate or exceed the license terms in Section 3.5

You must not violate or exceed the license terms in Section 3.5. Section 3.5 contains several licenses: the license you grant TikTok USDS Joint Venture over Your Content, the license other users receive over Your Content, and TikTok Content that you may use in accordance with the Terms. The Terms do not say which of these this prohibition is aimed at, so the practical reach is not fully specified.

Supporting quotations

violate or exceed the license terms in Section 3.5

3.5 Ownership of content and grant of licenses

you grant to TikTok USDS Joint Venture a license to use Your Content

you also grant to each user of the Platform a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual and irrevocable, worldwide license to use Your Content

Qualifications & exceptions

• The prohibition refers to Section 3.5 as a whole.

Not stated here

• The Terms do not say which of the section 3.5 licenses the prohibition is meant to enforce against you.
• The Terms do not point to any license text beyond that section, and none is supplied here.

Cross-references

• refers to (model-proposed): You grant TikTok a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable, worldwide license to Your Content — The prohibition on violating or exceeding the license terms in Section 3.5 points to the licenses that section sets out, including the one granted to TikTok.
• refers to (model-proposed): Depending on your sharing settings, every Platform user also gets a perpetual, irrevocable license to Your Content — The same prohibition also points to the license other users receive over Your Content in Section 3.5.