TikTok has become a popular platform for creating and sharing short videos. With over 1 billion monthly active users, it’s common for users to delete their accounts for various reasons. However, some users are curious if they can still view deleted TikTok accounts and profile information.
There are a few reasons why someone may want to view a deleted TikTok account. For example, if a friend deleted their account, you may want to see if you can still watch their old videos. Or, if your account was hacked and deleted, you may want to investigate what information is still available. Understanding what happens when an account is deleted can help users manage their privacy and security on TikTok.
Viewing Your Own Deleted Account
Once you delete your TikTok account, you will no longer have the ability to view or access it. Account deletion on TikTok is permanent – there is no way to retrieve or view your old deleted account after the fact.
According to TikTok’s support page, “If you permanently delete your account, your profile, videos, comments, likes, and followers will be removed from our servers and will no longer be retrievable.” This means all your previous content and data associated with your account will be gone for good.
The only way to restore a deleted TikTok account is if you recover it within 30 days through TikTok’s account recovery process. This allows you a limited window to reactivate your old account. However, after 30 days have passed, there is no method to view or recover a deleted account.
In summary, once your TikTok account is permanently deleted, there is no way to view or access it again through the app. The deletion is final, so you will not be able view your old deleted account or any of its previous content.
Viewing Someone Else’s Deleted Account
When another user deletes their TikTok account, their profile completely disappears from the app. Their account vanishes from your followers and following lists. You can no longer search for or view any of their previous videos or comments.
If you try to search for a deleted user’s handle in the TikTok search bar, it will say “Couldn’t find this account.” Their profile photo and username are removed from any of your previous comment threads or tagged videos as well.
According to Reddit users, the only way to view a deleted account’s old videos is if you had previously downloaded them directly from the app when they were still live. Otherwise, all of their content is permanently gone from TikTok after deletion.
Overall, deleted accounts on TikTok disappear entirely from the perspectives of other users. There is currently no publicly known method to recover or view a deleted account’s old content.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tiktokhelp/comments/leh7y5/is_there_anyway_to_watch_deleted_tiktoks/
Deleted Videos and Comments
Once a video or comment is deleted on TikTok, it is permanently removed from the platform and can no longer be accessed in any way. The content does not continue to exist in some hidden form that can be uncovered – when something is deleted, it is deleted.
TikTok completely wipes deleted videos and comments from their servers, so there is no way to retrieve or view them after the fact. Even the original poster of the content will not have access to their deleted videos or comments once they remove them.
Some users believe that deleted content may still be stored somewhere in TikTok’s system or that it could be recovered with the right tools. However, this is not the case. Industry experts have confirmed that nothing that gets deleted on TikTok will remain on their servers.
The only potential way deleted content could resurface is if another user had previously downloaded or screen recorded the video before it was deleted. But there are no backdoors within TikTok itself that would allow deleted content to be uncovered. Once it’s gone, it’s truly gone for good.
Cached Versions
Search engines or other sites may have cached copies of old TikTok videos. But these often get deleted over time as the cache gets cleared. For example, Google and other search engines will cache versions of pages or videos they index, but they regularly clear out old cached content to make space for new cache data. So any deleted videos cached by Google would likely only be available for a short window of time before getting erased from Google’s cache as well (source).
There are some third party sites that archive TikTok content, but these likely only capture a fraction of videos before they get deleted. So finding a cached version of a deleted video via these archives would be difficult. The best chance for seeing cached TikTok videos would be soon after they are deleted, before search engines and other sites clear them from their caches.
Downloading Videos
One way you may still be able to view a deleted user’s content is if you previously downloaded one of their videos before their account was removed. TikTok allows users to download videos directly from the app so they can be saved and watched offline[1].
If you downloaded someone’s video before their account was deleted, you would still have access to that video file on your device. The video would remain on your phone or computer even if the original posted version was no longer available on TikTok. So downloading and saving a video can act as a way to preserve content, even from accounts that get removed later on.
However, this only applies to videos you proactively downloaded before the account deletion. You wouldn’t be able to download videos from a deleted account retroactively. But downloading favorites from accounts you follow can be a good practice in case those accounts get removed down the line.
Hacked or Banned Accounts
There is an important difference between TikTok accounts that are deleted by users voluntarily versus those that get banned or hacked. When you decide to delete your own TikTok account, it is meant to be permanent and irreversible according to TikTok’s terms of service. However, accounts that get banned or hacked may eventually come back if the ban gets reversed or the account owner regains access.
If someone’s account shows up as “user not found,” it likely means the account was banned by TikTok moderators for violating community guidelines. Banned accounts can appeal to TikTok support and possibly get their account reinstated if the ban is deemed unfair or incorrect. There are many reports of accounts getting abruptly banned without explanation, only to have the ban overturned days or weeks later (source1).
Hacked accounts can also reappear if the rightful owner is able to recover the account by proving ownership to TikTok. There are steps you can take if your account is hacked, like reporting it to TikTok support right away (source2). If you provide enough valid information, TikTok may be able to return your account to you, essentially un-deleting it after being compromised.
So while a deleted TikTok account is meant to be permanent, banned or hacked accounts could potentially come back if certain actions are taken. If you notice an account that was previously not found has started posting again, it likely means TikTok overturned a ban or helped recover a hacked account.
Sources:
(source1) https://www.reddit.com/r/Tiktokhelp/comments/rp7hr4/account_got_hacked_and_permanently_banned/
(source2) https://support.tiktok.com/en/log-in-troubleshoot/log-in/my-account-has-been-hacked
Using a New Account
If you are unable to recover your deleted TikTok account, you will need to start fresh with a brand new account. Once an account is deleted, there is no way to reinstate it after 30 days have passed. As stated in TikTok’s support article, “Accounts deleted for more than 30 days cannot be restored.” https://support.tiktok.com/en/account-and-privacy/deleting-an-account/delete-your-account
When creating a new TikTok account, you’ll have to sign up with a different username, email, and phone number than your previous deleted account. None of that information can be reused. Your new account will start completely fresh, with no followers, likes, comments, or posted videos.
The main caution is that once you delete your TikTok account, you cannot reinstate or recover it after 30 days. The account is permanently gone. So be absolutely certain before deleting your account, as starting fresh means building up a new profile and losing all of your previous content and followers.
When Content Gets Re-Uploaded
If someone else downloaded or recorded your video before it was deleted, they may be able to re-upload it to TikTok. However, the original uploader has no way to recover a deleted video if their account is gone. TikTok does not store or backup deleted content. Once a video is removed from the platform, the uploader no longer has access to it through their account. This is why it’s important to only post content you are comfortable having public permanently. While you can delete content from your own view, it could live on if others choose to reshare it.
According to this article, there is no way to recover a deleted TikTok video through the app after it has been removed. The content is gone from the original account. But someone else could have downloaded it and reposted it before that deletion happened. So you may still find your deleted videos circulating if they were already recorded or shared by others.
Conclusion
In summary, deleted TikTok accounts are removed from public view on the platform. The associated videos, likes, comments, and other data also disappear. There is no way for the average user to recover a deleted account or access its past content through TikTok.
If you delete your own TikTok account, it is gone. You can sign up again with the same username, but your previous posts and engagement will not carry over. If someone else deletes their account, it likewise vanishes from your view and TikTok’s servers.
While deleted videos may persist in cached versions for a time, they eventually disappear from search engines and other sites. Hacked or banned accounts also get removed, along with their content.
In essence, deleted TikTok accounts and their content are not retrievable. Once an account or video is removed, it is erased from public visibility on the platform. The only way to access similar content again is if the user creates a new account and re-uploads videos.
