Image at right: The CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, has tried to calm critics' fears about the security of his company's app.
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Background information
The information below is abridged from a Wikipedia entry titled 'TikTok'. The full text can be accessed at
TikTok, and its Chinese counterpart Douyin, is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 3 seconds to 10 minutes. Since their launches, TikTok and Douyin have gained global popularity. As of 2018, TikTok was available in more than 150 markets, and in 75 languages. In October 2020, TikTok surpassed 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide.
Features
The mobile app allows users to create short videos, which often feature music in the background and can be sped up, slowed down, or edited with a filter. They can also add their own sound on top of the background music. To create a music video with the app, users can choose background music from a wide variety of music genres, edit with a filter and record a 15-second video with speed adjustments before uploading it to share with others on TikTok or other social platforms.
The 'For You' page on TikTok is a feed of videos that are recommended to users based on their activity on the app. Content is curated by TikTok's artificial intelligence depending on the content a user liked, interacted with, or searched. This is in contrast to other social networks' algorithms basing such content on the user's relationships with other users and what they liked or interacted with.
Videos that users do not want to post yet can be stored in their 'drafts'. The user is allowed to see their 'drafts' and post when they find it fitting. The app allows users to set their accounts as 'private'. When first downloading the app, the user's account is public by default. The user can change to private in their settings. Private content remains visible to TikTok but is blocked from TikTok users who the account holder has not authorized to view their content.
TikTok announced a 'family safety mode' in February 2020 for parents to be able to control their children's presence on the app. There is a screen time management option, restricted mode, and the option to put a limit on direct messages. The app expanded its parental controls feature called 'Family Pairing' in September 2020 to provide parents and guardians with educational resources to understand what children on TikTok are exposed to. Content for the feature was created in partnership with online safety nonprofit, Internet Matters.
Demographics
TikTok tends to appeal to younger users, with 41 percent of its users between the ages of 16 and 24. Among these TikTok users, 90 percent said they used the app daily. As of the first quarter of 2022, there were over 100 million monthly active users in the United States and 23 million in the United Kingdom. The average user, daily, was spending 1 hour and 25 minutes on the app and opening TikTok 17 times.
Influencer marketing
TikTok has provided a platform for users to create content not only for fun but also for money. As the platform has grown significantly over the past few years, it has allowed companies to advertise and rapidly reach their intended demographic through influencer marketing. The platform's AI algorithm also contributes to the influencer marketing potential, as it picks out content according to the user's preference. Sponsored content is not as prevalent on the platform as it is on other social media apps, but brands and influencers still can make as much as they would if not more in comparison to other platforms. Influencers on the platform who earn money through engagement, such as likes and comments, are referred to as "meme machines."
Bans and attempted bans
Asia: as of January 2023, TikTok is reportedly banned in several Asian countries including Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Syria. The app was previously banned temporarily in Indonesia and Jordan, though both have been lifted since.
Canada: In February 2023, the Canadian government banned TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices.
Europe: In February 2023, the European Commission and European Council banned TikTok from official devices.
United Kingdom: In March 2023, the UK government announced that TikTok would be banned on electronic devices used by ministers and other employees, amid security concerns relating to the app's handling of user data. The same month, the BBC told all employees to delete TikTok off their devices unless the app was being used for work purposes. The network is also reportedly considering a ban on the app.
United States: On 6 August 2020, then U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order [165][166] which would ban TikTok transactions in 45 days if it was not sold by ByteDance. Trump also signed a similar order against the WeChat application owned by the Chinese multinational company Tencent.
On 14 August 2020, Trump issued another order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell or spin off its U.S. TikTok business. In the order, Trump said that there is 'credible evidence' that leads him to believe that ByteDance 'might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.' Donald Trump was concerned about TikTok being a threat because TikTok's parent company was rumored to be taking United States user data and reporting it back to Chinese operations through the company ByteDance.
In June 2021, new President Joe Biden signed an executive order revoking the Trump administration ban on TikTok, and instead ordered the Secretary of Commerce to investigate the app to determine if it poses a threat to U.S. national security.
As of February 2023, at least 32 (of 50) states have announced or enacted bans on state government agencies, employees, and contractors using TikTok on government-issued devices. State bans only affect government employees and do not prohibit civilians from having or using the app on their personal devices.
In March 2023, Politico reported that TikTok hired SKDK to lobby amid a possible federal ban. President Biden has told TikTok that the company must divest to an American buyer or face a general ban.
The same month TikTok's CEO appeared before Congress to address the concerns surrounding the app. He stated that TikTok's data collection practices did not differ from those of US social media platforms.