Shortly before a law was set to ban TikTok in the United States, learn about the platform’s growth and the initial concerns surrounding it.
Genesis –
In 2016, ByteDance, a Chinese company, introduced Douyin, a short video sharing app, into the Chinese market.
ByteDance introduced TikTok to the global market the next year, shortly before acquiring the “lip-sync” app Musical.ly and integrating it into their new venture.
The social media platform has achieved popularity due to its algorithm that provides a constant stream of short videos created by users in a casual manner.
Pandemic peak.
The COVID-19 pandemic, declared in 2020, led to a surge in TikTok’s popularity as people in various countries relied on the internet for entertainment while under government-mandated lockdowns.
Authorities worldwide started to notice the impact and strong allure of TikTok.
TikTok has become a highly popular app globally, with some countries growing increasingly concerned about Chinese government influence on ByteDance or potential access to user data.
India prohibited TikTok in July 2020 as a result of strained relations with China.
In Trump’s view –
During his presidency in 2020, Republican mogul Donald Trump issued orders to ban TikTok.
Trump alleged that TikTok was transferring data from American users to benefit Beijing and censoring posts at the request of Chinese authorities, without providing any evidence.
Trump’s choice was made as his administration faced conflicts with Beijing, particularly in trade.
During his unsuccessful bid for re-election in 2020, Trump persisted in campaigning with a strong anti-China stance.
Challenges hindered the implementation of court decisions following Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the presidential elections.
One billion users –
TikTok revealed in September 2021 that it had one billion active users globally.
This has raised worries about the dangers of addiction, promotion, and spying on platform users.
In 2022, BuzzFeed reported that employees of ByteDance in China had viewed private data from TikTok users.
ByteDance attempted to address privacy worries by storing user data on servers managed by Oracle.
The action was not enough in the United States, leading to TikTok being prohibited on devices used by military personnel and others.
Several government agencies and academic institutions emulated this action by prohibiting their members from using TikTok.
The executive director of TikTok, Shou Chew from Singapore, faced questioning from US Congress members in a lengthy hearing in March 2023.
For sale or outdoors
TikTok came back to the United States in 2024 after President Joe Biden approved a legislation mandating the app’s sale to a domestic company or an ally for national security reasons.
Washington aimed to decrease the possibility of Beijing spying on or controlling TikTok users, including the 170 million American users on the app.
TikTok stands by its claim that it has never shared user data with the Chinese government.
ByteDance filed a lawsuit against the US government, claiming that the legislation infringes on freedom of speech.
The U.S. Supreme Court finalized its ruling on the case last Friday, affirming the law that will take effect on January 19.
The court’s decision against TikTok emphasized that the law does not infringe on freedom of expression rights and acknowledged the US government’s legitimate national security concerns regarding the Chinese company that owns the app.
U.S. President Donald Trump, set to resume office next Monday (20), emphasized his potential involvement in supporting TikTok.
The company stated that it would be forced to cease operations unless President Biden’s administration provides firm assurances that the law will not be enforced after his term ends.
The present administration delegated the issue to the upcoming administration.