Douyin

Douyin was launched by ByteDance in September 2016, originally under the name A.me, before rebranding to Douyin (抖音) in December 2016.^[34][35] Douyin was developed in 200 days and within a year had 100 million users, with more than one billion videos viewed every day.^[36][37]

While TikTok and Douyin share a similar user interface, the platforms operate separately.^[38][3][39] Douyin includes an in-video search feature that can search by people's faces for more videos of them, along with other features such as buying, booking hotels, and making geo-tagged reviews.^[40]

Evolution

ByteDance planned on Douyin expanding overseas. The founder of ByteDance, Zhang Yiming, stated that "China is home to only one-fifth of Internet users globally. If we don't expand on a global scale, we are bound to lose to peers eyeing the four-fifths. So, going global is a must."^[41]

The app was launched as TikTok in the international market in September 2017.^[42] On 23 January 2018, the TikTok app ranked first among free application downloads on app stores in Thailand and other countries.^[43] TikTok has been downloaded more than 130 million times in the United States and has reached 2 billion downloads worldwide,^[44][45] according to data from mobile research firm Sensor Tower (those numbers exclude Android users in China).^[46]

In the United States, celebrities, including Jimmy Fallon and Tony Hawk, began using the app in 2018.^[47][48] Other celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, Will Smith, and Justin Bieber joined TikTok as well as many others.^[49] In January 2019, TikTok allowed creators to embed merchandise sale links into their videos.^[50]

On 3 September 2019, TikTok and the U.S. National Football League (NFL) announced a multi-year partnership.^[51] The agreement occurred just two days before the NFL's 100th season kick-off at Soldier Field, where TikTok hosted activities for fans in honor of the deal. The partnership entails the launch of an official NFL TikTok account, which is to bring about new marketing opportunities such as sponsored videos and hashtag challenges. In July 2020, TikTok, excluding Douyin, reported close to 800 million monthly active users worldwide after less than four years of existence.^[52]

In May 2021, TikTok appointed Shou Zi Chew as their new CEO^[53] who assumed the position from interim CEO Vanessa Pappas, following the resignation of Kevin A. Mayer on 27 August 2020.^[54][55][56] In September 2021, TikTok reported that it had reached 1 billion users.^[57] In 2021, TikTok earned $4 billion in advertising revenue.^[58]

In October 2022, TikTok was reported to be planning an expansion into the e-commerce market in the US, following the launch of TikTok Shop in the United Kingdom. The company posted job listings for staff for a series of order fulfillment centers in the US and is reportedly planning to start the new live shopping business before the end of the year.^[59] The Financial Times reported that TikTok will launch a video gaming channel, but the report was denied in a statement to Digiday, with TikTok instead aiming to be a social hub for the gaming community.^[60][61]

According to data from app analytics group Sensor Tower, advertising on TikTok in the US grew by 11% in March 2023, with companies including Pepsi, DoorDash, Amazon and Apple among the top spenders. According to estimates from research group Insider Intelligence, TikTok is projected to generate $14.15 billion in revenue in 2023, up from $9.89 billion in 2022.^[62]

Musical.ly merger

On 9 November 2017, TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, spent nearly $1 billion to purchase musical.ly, a startup headquartered in Shanghai with an overseas office in Santa Monica, California, U.S.^[63][64] Musical.ly was a social media video platform that allowed users to create short lip-sync and comedy videos, initially released in August 2014. TikTok merged with musical.ly on 2 August 2018 with existing accounts and data consolidated into one app, keeping the title TikTok.^[65] This ended musical.ly and made TikTok a worldwide app, excluding China, since China already had Douyin.^[64][66][67]

Expansion in other markets

TikTok was downloaded over 104 million times on Apple's App Store during the first half of 2018, according to data provided to CNBC by Sensor Tower.^[68]

After merging with musical.ly in August, downloads increased and TikTok became the most downloaded app in the U.S. in October 2018, which musical.ly had done once before.^[69][70] In February 2019, TikTok, together with Douyin, hit one billion downloads globally, excluding Android installs in China.^[71] In 2019, media outlets cited TikTok as the 7th-most-downloaded mobile app of the decade, from 2010 to 2019.^[72] It was also the most-downloaded app on Apple's App Store in 2018 and 2019, surpassing Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.^[73][74] In September 2020, a deal was confirmed between ByteDance and Oracle in which the latter will serve as a partner to provide cloud hosting,^[75][76] as TikTok faces attempts to ban it in the United States.^{[77][78][79][80]} In November 2020, TikTok signed a licensing deal with Sony Music.^[81] In December 2020, Warner Music Group signed a licensing deal with TikTok.^[82][83] In April 2021, Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism partnered with TikTok to promote tourism.^[84] It came following the January 2021 winter campaign, initiated through a partnership between the UAE Government Media Office partnered and TikTok to promote the country's tourism.^[85]

Since 2014, the first non-gaming apps^[86] with more than 3 billion downloads were Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger; all owned by Meta. TikTok was the first non-Facebook app to reach that figure. Sensor Tower reported that although TikTok had been banned in India, its largest market, in June 2020, downloads in the rest of the world continue to increase, reaching 3 billion downloads in 2021.^[87]

The advertising revenue of short video clips is lower than other social media: while users spend more time, American audience is monetized at a rate of $0.31 per hour, a third the rate of Facebook and a fifth the rate of Instagram, $67 per year while Instagram will make more than $200.^[88]

In July 2023, Iranian Mehr News Agency reported "experts from Douyin" will meet Iranian business in Tehran to enable Iranian exports to China.^[89]

In 2023, several high-level executives transferred from ByteDance to TikTok to focus on moneymaking operations. Some moved from Beijing to the US. According to sources for the Wall Street Journal, the personnel move led to concerns from some TikTok employees and was reported to the office of US Senator Ted Cruz for further investigation.^[90][91] In December 2023, TikTok invested $1.5 billion in GoTo's Indonesian e-commerce business, Tokopedia.^[92]

Relationship with other tech platforms

Although the size of its user base falls short of that of Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube, TikTok reached 1 billion active monthly users faster than any of them.^[93] Competition from TikTok prompted Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, to spend $120 million as of 2022 to entice more content creators to its Reels service, although engagement level remained low.^[94] Snapchat had likewise paid out $250 million in 2021 to its creators.^[95] Many platforms and services, including YouTube Shorts, began to imitate TikTok's format and recommendation page. Those changes caused a backlash from users of Instagram, Spotify, and Twitter.^[93]

In March 2022, The Washington Post reported that Facebook's owner Meta Platforms paid Targeted Victory—a consulting firm backed by supporters of the U.S. Republican Party—to coordinate lobbying and media campaigns against TikTok and portray it as "a danger to American children and society". Its efforts included asking local reporters to serve as "back channels" of anti-TikTok messages, writing opinion articles and letters to the editor, including one in the name of a concerned parent, amplifying stories about TikTok trends, such as "devious licks" and "Slap a Teacher", that actually originated on Facebook, and promoting Facebook's own corporate initiatives. Ties to Meta were not disclosed to the other parties involved. Targeted Victory said that it is "proud of the work". A Meta spokesperson said that all platforms, including TikTok, should face scrutiny.^[96]

The Wall Street Journal reported that Silicon Valley executives met with US lawmakers to build an "anti-China alliance" before TikTok CEO's congressional hearing in March 2023.^[97][98]

Viral trends

Lil Nas X, who rose to fame on TikTok in 2019

The app has spawned numerous viral trends, Internet celebrities, and music trends around the world.^[121] Duets, a feature that allows users to add their own video to an existing video with the original content's audio, have sparked many of these trends.^[122] Many stars got their start on musical.ly, which merged with TikTok on 2 August 2018. These include Loren Gray, Baby Ariel, Zach King, Lisa and Lena, Jacob Sartorius, and many others. Loren Gray remained the most-followed individual on TikTok until Charli D'Amelio surpassed her on 25 March 2020. Gray's was the first TikTok account to reach 40 million followers on the platform. She was surpassed with 41.3 million followers. D'Amelio was the first to ever reach 50, 60, and 70 million followers. Charli D'Amelio remained the most-followed individual on the platform until she was surpassed by Khaby Lame on 23 June 2022. Other creators rose to fame after the platform merged with musical.ly on 2 August 2018.^[123] TikTok also played a major part in making "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X one of the biggest songs of 2019 and the longest-running number-one song in the history of the US Billboard Hot 100.^{[124][125][126]}

TikTok has allowed many music artists to gain a wider audience, often including foreign fans. For example, despite never having toured in Asia, the band Fitz and the Tantrums developed a large following in South Korea following the widespread popularity of their 2016 song "HandClap" on the platform.^[127] "Any Song" by R&B and rap artist Zico became number one on the Korean music charts due to the popularity of the #anysongchallenge, where users dance to the choreography of the song.^[128] The platform has also launched many songs that failed to garner initial commercial success into sleeper hits, particularly since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[129][130] However, it has received criticism for not paying royalties to artists whose music is used on the platform.^[131]

Classic stars are able to connect with younger audiences born decades after a musician's first debut and across traditional genres. In 2020 Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" was used in a skating video and a recreation by Mick Fleetwood. The song re-entered Billboard Hot 100 after 43 years and topped Apple Music. In 2022, Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" went viral among fans of Stranger Things, topping the UK singles chart 37 years after its original release. In 2023 Kylie Minogue's "Padam Padam" entered the Radio 1 playlist after being shared by Gen Z, even though many youth radio stations had refused to play it. Other older artists with strong engagement on TikTok include Elton John and Rod Stewart.^[132]

In June 2020, TikTok users and K-pop fans "claimed to have registered potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets" for President Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa through communication on TikTok,^[133] contributing to "rows of empty seats"^[134] at the event. Later, in October 2020, an organization called TikTok for Biden was created to support then-presidential candidate Joe Biden.^[135] After the election, the organization was renamed to Gen-Z for Change.^[136][137]

On 10 August 2020, Emily Jacobssen wrote and sang "Ode to Remy", a song praising the protagonist from Pixar's 2007 computer-animated film Ratatouille. The song rose to popularity when musician Daniel Mertzlufft composed a backing track to the song. In response, began creating a "crowdsourced" project called Ratatouille the Musical. Since Mertzlufft's video, many new elements including costume design, additional songs, and a playbill have been created.^[138] On 1 January 2021, a full one-hour virtual presentation of Ratatouille the Musical premiered on TodayTix. It starred Titus Burgess as Remy, Wayne Brady as Django, Adam Lambert as Emile, Kevin Chamberlin as Gusteau, Andrew Barth Feldman as Linguini, Ashley Park as Colette, Priscilla Lopez as Mabel, Mary Testa as Skinner, and André De Shields as Ego.

A viral TikTok trend known as "devious licks" involves students vandalizing or stealing school property and posting videos of the action on the platform. The trend has led to increasing school vandalism and subsequent measures taken by some schools to prevent damage. Some students have been arrested for participating in the trend.^[139][140] TikTok has taken measures to remove and prevent access to content displaying the trend.^[141] Another TikTok trend known as the Kia Challenge involves users stealing certain models of Kia and Hyundai cars manufactured without immobilizers, which was a standard feature at the time, between 2010 and 2021.^[142] As of February 2023, it had resulted in at least 14 crashes and eight deaths according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.^[143] In May, Kia and Hyundai settled a $200-million class-action lawsuit by agreeing to provide software updates to affected vehicles and over 26,000 steering wheel locks.^[144]

In 2023, a trend emerged where streamers acted as if they were video-game characters following prompts from their viewers.^[145]

On Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, some celebrities who had garnered large followings as of August 2019 include Dilraba Dilmurat, Angelababy, Luo Zhixiang, Ouyang Nana, and Pan Changjiang.^[146] In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, a Qatari teenage royal became an Internet celebrity after his angry expressions were recorded in Qatar's opening match loss to Ecuador;^[147] he amassed more than 15 million followers in less than a week after creating a Douyin account.^[148]

STEM feed

In March 2023, TikTok introduced a dedicated feed for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content. It works with Common Sense Networks to check for safety and age appropriateness and with the Poynter Institute for reliability of information.^[169][170]

Heating

In January 2023, Forbes reported that a "heating" tool allows TikTok to manually promote certain videos, comprising 1–2% of daily views. The practice began as a way to grow and diversify content and influencers that were not automatically picked up by the recommendation algorithm. It was also used to promote brands, artists, and NGOs, such as the FIFA World Cup and Taylor Swift.^[171] However, some employees have abused it to promote their own accounts or those of their spouses, while others have felt that their guidelines leave too much room for discretion. TikTok said only a few individuals can approve heating in the U.S. and the promoted videos take up less than 0.002% of user feeds. To address concerns of Chinese influence, the company is negotiating with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) such that future heating could only be performed by vetted security personnel in the U.S. and the process would be audited by third-parties such as Oracle.^[172]

Censorship and moderation

TikTok's and Douyin's censorship policies have been criticized as non-transparent. Internal guidelines against the promotion of violence, separatism, and "demonization of countries" could be used to prohibit content related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, Falun Gong, Tibet, Taiwan, Chechnya, Northern Ireland, the Cambodian genocide, the 1998 Indonesian riots, Kurdish nationalism, ethnic conflicts between blacks and whites, or between different Islamic sects. A more specific list banned criticisms against world leaders, including past and present ones from Russia, the United States, Japan, North and South Korea, India, Indonesia, and Turkey.^[173][174] In 2019, TikTok took down a video about human rights abuses in the Xinjiang internment camps against Uyghurs but restored it after 50 minutes as well as the creator's account, saying that the action was a mistake and triggered by a brief "satirical" image of Osama bin Laden in another post.^[175][176]

TikTok moderators were instructed to suppress posts from "For You" recommendations if the users shown were deemed "too ugly, poor, or disabled".^[177][178] The consumption of alcohol, full or partial nudity, LGBT and intersex contents were restricted even in places where they are legal.^[179] TikTok has since apologized and instituted a ban against anti-LGBTQ ideology, but censorship continues on Douyin due to regulations in China.^[180][181] Douyin guidelines also forbid live broadcasting by unregistered foreigners, "feudal superstition", "money worship", smoking and drinking, competitive eating by the "already obese", "toxic" slime, "pornographic" ASMR such as ear-licking, and female anchors wearing revealing clothes.^[174]

ByteDance said its early guidelines were global and aimed at reducing online harassment and divisiveness when its platforms were still growing. They have been replaced by versions customized by local teams for users in different regions.^[182]

A March 2021 study by the Citizen Lab found that TikTok did not censor searches politically but was inconclusive about whether posts are.^[3][183] A 2023 paper by the Internet Governance Project at Georgia Institute of Technology concluded that TikTok is "not exporting censorship, either directly by blocking material, or indirectly via its recommendation algorithm."^[184]

Following increased scrutiny, TikTok said it is granting some outside experts access to the platform's anonymized data sets and protocols, including filters, keywords, criteria for heating, and source code.^[185][186]

A 2023 study by Rutgers University researchers found a "strong possibility that content on TikTok is either amplified or suppressed based on its alignment with the interests of the Chinese government."^[187] The researchers subsequently found that TikTok removed the ability to analyze hashtags of sensitive topics.^[188][189]

Extremism and hate

Concerns have been voiced regarding content relating to, and the promotion and spreading of, hate speech and far-right extremism, such as antisemitism, islamophobia, racism, and xenophobia. Some videos were shown to expressly promote Holocaust denial and told viewers to take up arms and fight in the name of white supremacy and the swastika.^[190] As TikTok has gained popularity among young children,^[191] and the popularity of extremist and hateful content is growing, calls for tighter restrictions on their flexible boundaries have been made. TikTok has since released tougher parental controls to filter out inappropriate content and to ensure they can provide sufficient protection and security.^[192]

In Malaysia, TikTok is used by some users to engage in hate speech against race and religion especially mentioning the 13 May incident after the 2022 election. TikTok responded by taking down videos with content that violated their community guidelines.^[193]

In March 2023, The Jewish Chronicle reported that TikTok still hosted videos that promoted the neo-Nazi propaganda film Europa: The Last Battle, despite having been alerted to the issue four months prior. TikTok said it removed and would continue to remove the content and associated accounts and has blocked the search term as well.^[194] According to a November 2023 report, the company also hosts a toxic work environment where antisemitic speech is rampant.^[195]

Misinformation

TikTok has banned Holocaust denial, but other conspiracy theories have become popular on the platform, such as Pizzagate and QAnon (two conspiracy theories popular among the U.S. alt-right) whose hashtags reached almost 80 million views and 50 million views respectively by June 2020.^[198] The platform has also been used to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, such as clips from Plandemic.^[198] TikTok removed some of these videos and has generally added links to accurate COVID-19 information on videos with tags related to the pandemic.^[199]

In January 2020, left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America said that TikTok hosted misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic despite a recent policy against misinformation.^[200] In April 2020, the government of India asked TikTok to remove users posting misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[201] There were also multiple conspiracy theories that the government is involved with the spread of the pandemic.^[202] As a response to this, TikTok launched a feature to report content for misinformation.^[203] It reported that in the second half of 2020, over 340,000 videos in the U.S. about election misinformation and 50,000 videos of COVID-19 misinformation were removed.^[204]

To combat misinformation in the 2022 midterm election in the US, TikTok announced a midterms Elections Center available in-app to users in 40 different languages. TikTok partnered with the National Association of Secretaries of State to give accurate local information to users.^[205]

In September 2022, NewsGuard Technologies reported that among the TikTok searches it had conducted and analyzed from the U.S., 19.4% surfaced misinformation such as questionable or harmful content about COVID-19 vaccines, homemade remedies, the 2020 US elections, the war in Ukraine, the Robb Elementary School shooting, and abortion. NewsGuard suggested that in contrast, results from Google were of higher quality.^[206] Mashable's own test from Australia found innocuous results after searching for "getting my COVID vaccine" but suggestions such as "climate change is a myth" after typing in "climate change".^[204]

Russian invasion of Ukraine

As of 2022, TikTok is the 10th most popular app in Russia.^[207] After a new set of Russian fake news laws was installed in March 2022, the company announced a series of restrictions on Russian and non-Russian posts and livestreams.^[208][209] Tracking Exposed, a user data rights group, learned of what was likely a technical glitch that became exploited by pro-Russia posters. It stated that although this and other loopholes were patched by TikTok before the end of March, the initial failure to correctly implement the restrictions, in addition to the effects from Kremlin's "fake news" laws, contributed to the formation of a "splInternet ... dominated by pro-war content" in Russia.^[210][207] TikTok said that it had removed 204 accounts for swaying public opinion about the war while obscuring their origins and that its fact checkers had removed 41,191 videos for violating its misinformation policies.^[211][212]

In December 2023, BBC News reported that it had discovered nearly 800 fake TikTok accounts promoting Russian propaganda and disinformation. TikTok's own investigation found more than 12,000 fake accounts, including ones using additional languages such as English and Italian.^[213]

Demographics

TikTok tends to appeal to younger users, as 41% of its users are between the ages of 16 and 24. These individuals are considered Generation Z.^[101] Among these TikTok users, 90% said they used the app daily.^[214] TikTok's geographical use in 2019 has shown that 43% of new users were from India before the social platform was banned in the country.^[215] But adults have also seen growth on TikTok. The share of U.S. adults who regularly get news from TikTok hit 14% in 2023.^[216]

By July 2023, TikTok has become the primary news source for British teenagers on social media, with 28% of 12 to 15-year-olds relying on the platform, while traditional sources like BBC One/Two are more trusted at 82%, according to a report by UK regulator Ofcom.^[217]

As of the first quarter of 2022, there were over 100 million monthly active users in the United States and 23 million in the UK. The average user, daily, was spending 1 hour and 25 minutes on the app and opening TikTok 17 times.^[218] Out of TikTok's top 100 male creators, a 2022 analysis reported 67% were white, with 54% having near-perfect facial symmetry.^[219]

Popular TikTok users have lived collectively in collab houses, predominantly in the Los Angeles area.^[220]

Influencer marketing

The BookTok section at a Barnes & Noble store in 2022.

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.^[233] The platform's AI algorithm also contributes to the influencer marketing potential, as it picks out content according to the user's preference.^[234] 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.^[234] Influencers on the platform who earn money through engagement, such as likes and comments, are referred to as "meme machines".^[233]

In 2021, The New York Times reported that viral TikTok videos by young people relating the emotional impact of books on them, tagged with the label "BookTok", significantly drove sales of literature. Publishers were increasingly using the platform as a venue for influencer marketing.^[235]

In December 2022, NBC News reported in a television segment that some TikTok and YouTube influencers were being given free and discounted cosmetic surgeries in order for them to advertise the surgeries to users of the platforms.^[236]

In 2022, it was reported that a trend called "de-influencing" had become popular on the platform as a backlash to influencer marketing. TikTok creators participating in this trend made videos criticizing products promoted by influencers and asked their audiences not to buy products they did not need. However, some creators participating in the trend started promoting alternative products to their audiences and earning commission from sales made through their affiliate links in the same manner as the influencers they were originally criticizing.^[237][238]

In June 2022, NBC News reported that some of the influencers paid by FeetFinder, a website that sells foot fetish content, did not disclose their videos were ads. FeetFinder said that it has suggested to influencers to be upfront about who was funding them. Existing sellers on FeetFinder said that the videos often misrepresented how "easy" it is to make money from posting feet pictures. Other TikTok creators have spoken out against accepting sponsorship deals indiscriminately and criticized those who posted undisclosed FeetFinder ads.^[239]

Businesses

In October 2020, the e-commerce platform Shopify added TikTok to its portfolio of social media platforms, allowing online merchants to sell their products directly to consumers on TikTok.^[240]

Some small businesses have used TikTok to advertise and to reach an audience wider than the geographical region they would normally serve. The viral response to many small business TikTok videos has been attributed to TikTok's algorithm, which shows content that viewers at large are drawn to, but which they are unlikely to actively search for (such as videos on unconventional types of businesses, like beekeeping and logging).^[241]

In 2020, digital media companies such as Group Nine Media and Global used TikTok increasingly, focusing on tactics such as brokering partnerships with TikTok influencers and developing branded content campaigns.^[242] Notable collaborations between larger brands and top TikTok influencers have included Chipotle's partnership with David Dobrik in May 2019^[243] and Dunkin' Donuts' partnership with Charli D'Amelio in September 2020.^[244]

Sex workers

TikTok is regularly used by sex workers to promote pornographic content sold on platforms such as OnlyFans.^[245] One porn actor posted a viral song referring to himself as an "accountant", starting a trend.^[246] In 2020 TikTok updated their terms of service to ban content that promotes "premium sexual content", impacting a large number of adult content creators.^[247] In response, they began substituting words in their captions and videos and using filters to censor explicit images. Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, believes that at some point, censorship becomes a fool's errand and we would never be "able to sanitize the Internet".^[248][249] Some adult content creators have found a way to game TikTok's recommendation algorithm by posting riddles, which attract a large number of viewers trying and failing to solve them. Some of them are redirected to the creators' OnlyFans accounts and end up as subscribers there.^[250]

Cyberbullying

Vox noted in 2018 that bullies and trolls were relatively rare on TikTok compared to other platforms.^[227] Nonetheless, several users have reported cyberbullying via features such as Duet or React, which is used to interact with followers.^[251] A trend making fun of autism eventually created a huge backlash, even on the platform itself, and the company ended up removing the hashtag altogether.^[252][253] Parents filming how their children reacted to people with disability, often in terror, led to criticisms of ableism.^[254] In December 2019, following a report by German digital rights group netzpolitik.org, TikTok admitted that it had suppressed videos by disabled users as well as LGBTQ+ users in a purported temporary effort to limit cyberbullying.^[255][177]

Addiction and mental health

There are concerns that some users may find it hard to stop using TikTok.^[256] In April 2018, an addiction-reduction feature was added to Douyin.^[256] This encouraged users to take a break every 90 minutes.^[256] Later in 2018, the feature was rolled out to the TikTok app. TikTok uses popular influencers to encourage viewers to stop using the app and take a break.^[257]

Many were also concerned with the app affecting users' attention spans due to the short-form nature of the content. This is a concern as many of TikTok's audience are younger children, whose brains are still developing.^[258] TikTok executives and representatives have noted and made aware to advertisers on the platform that users have poor attention spans. With a large amount of video content, nearly 50% of users find it stressful to watch a video longer than a minute and a third of users watch videos at double speed.^[218] TikTok has also received criticism for enabling children to purchase coins which they can send to other users.^[259]

In February 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that "Mental-health professionals around the country are growing increasingly concerned about the effects on teen girls of posting sexualized TikTok videos."^[260] In March 2022, a coalition of U.S. state attorneys general launched an investigation into TikTok's effect on children's mental health.^[261] In June 2022, TikTok introduced the ability to set a maximum uninterrupted screen time allowance, after which the app blocks off the ability to navigate the feed. The block only lifts after the app is exited and left unused for a set period of time. Additionally, the app features a dashboard with statistics on how often the app is opened, how much time is spent browsing it and when the browsing occurs.^[262]

Since 2021, it has been reported that accounts engaging with contents related to suicide, self-harm, or eating disorder were fed more of similar videos. Some users were able to circumvent TikTok filters by writing in code or using unconventional spelling. The company has faced multiple lawsuits pertaining to wrongful deaths. TikTok said it is working to break up these "rabbit holes" of similar recommendations. US searches for eating disorder receive a prompt that offers mental health resources.^{[263][264][265]}

In 2021, the platform revealed that it will be introducing a feature that will prevent teenagers from receiving notifications past their bedtime. The company will no longer send push notifications after 9 pm to users aged between 13 and 15. For 16 to 17 year olds, notifications will not be sent after 10 pm.^[266] In March 2023, TikTok announced default screen time limits for users under the age of 18. Those under the age of 13 would need a passcode from their parents to extend their time.^[267]

The Wall Street Journal has reported that doctors experienced a surge in reported cases of tics, tied to an increasing number of TikTok videos from content creators with Tourette syndrome. Doctors suggested that the cause may be a social one as users who consumed content showcasing various tics would sometimes develop tics of their own,^[268] akin to mass psychogenic illness.^[269][270]

Chinese government data collection

The company has denied providing data to the Chinese government, stating it would not do so if asked. Due to its parent company ByteDance's Chinese ownership and Article 14 of China's 2017 National Intelligence Law that insists that all organizations and citizens "support, assist and cooperate" with Chinese intelligence,^[278] experts interviewed by CNBC believe that TikTok would have no right to appeal requests for data made by the Chinese government. Other analysts, however, believe that the likelihood of data collection by the Chinese government is low and it is more important to strengthen legal protection of private data in general. Several independent cybersecurity experts have concluded that there is no determinable evidence that user information was being or had been obtained by the Chinese government, although they note that the amount of data that the app collects is of comparable volume to other social media apps, including U.S.-based platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.^[279][280] Keeping user data within the United States became the motivation behind TikTok's Project Texas.^[30]

In October 2021, following the 2021 Facebook leak and controversies about social media ethics, a bipartisan group of United States lawmakers also pressed TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat on questions of data privacy and moderation for age-appropriate content. Lawmakers also "hammered" TikTok about whether consumer data could be turned over to Beijing through ByteDance, its parent company in China.^[281] TikTok said it does not give information to China's government and "U.S. user data" is stored within the country with backups in Singapore. According to the company's representative, TikTok had "no affiliation" with the subsidiary Beijing ByteDance Technology, in which the Chinese government has a minority stake and board seat.^[282]

In June 2022 reports emerged that ByteDance employees in China could access US data and repeatedly accessed the private information of TikTok users,^{[283][284][285]} TikTok employees were cited saying that "everything is seen in China," while one director claimed a Beijing-based engineer referred to as a "Master Admin" has "access to everything."^{[283][286][287]} Following the reports, TikTok announced that 100% of its U.S. user traffic is now being routed to Oracle Cloud, along with their intention to delete all U.S. user data from their own datacenters.^[284][286] This arrangement stemmed from the talks with Oracle instigated in September 2020 in the midst of Trump's threat to ban the app, though Oracle did not ultimately acquire any part of TikTok.^{[288][289][287]}

In September 2022, during a testimony to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, TikTok's COO would not commit to stopping "all data and metadata flows" to China. The COO reacted to concerns of the company's handling of user data by stating that TikTok does not operate in China, though the company does have an office there.^[290]

2022 medication shortage

In November 2022, Australia's medical regulatory agency, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) reported that there was a global shortage of the diabetes medication Ozempic. According to the TGA, the rise in demand was caused by an increase in off-label prescription of the drug for weight loss purposes.^[340] In December 2022, with the United States experiencing a shortage as well, it was reported that the huge increase in demand for the medicine was caused by a weight loss trend on TikTok, where videos about the drug exceeded 360 million views.^{[341][342][343]} Wegovy, a drug that has been specifically approved for treating obesity, also became popular on the platform after Elon Musk credited it for helping him lose weight.^[344][345]

Workplace conditions

Several former employees of the company have claimed of poor workplace conditions, including the start of the workweek on Sunday to cooperate with Chinese timezones and excessive workload. Employees claimed they averaged 85 hours of meetings per week and would frequently stay up all night in order to complete tasks. Some employees claimed the workplace's schedule operated similarly to the 996 schedule. The company has a stated policy of working from 10 AM to 7 PM five days per week (63 hours per week), but employees noted that it was encouraged for employees to work after hours. One female worker complained that the company did not allow her adequate time to change her feminine hygiene product because of back-to-back meetings. Another employee noted that working at the company caused her to seek marriage therapy and lose an unhealthy amount of weight.^[346] In response to the allegations, the company noted that they were committed to allowing employees "support and flexibility".^[347][348]

Osama bin Laden's Letter

In November 2023, amid the Hamas-Israel war, Bin Laden's 2002 "Letter to the American people" went viral on TikTok and other social media. In the letter, Bin Laden denounced the US and its support for Israel, and supported al-Qaeda's war against the US as a defensive struggle. Numerous social media users, including Americans, expressed their opposition to US foreign policy by sharing the resurfaced copies of the letter and its contents. The Guardian website removed the letter after displaying it for more than 20 years, and TikTok began issuing takedowns of videos featuring the letter.^[349] Reporting in The Washington Post suggested that the virality of the letter had been limited prior to media coverage, having never trended on TikTok. Many of the TikTok videos covering the letter were critical of bin Laden, and media coverage had exaggerated its significance while elevating the virality of the letter.^[350]

Graphic contents

In June 2021, TikTok made an apology after a shock video, showing a girl dancing which then cuts to a graphic scene of a man being beheaded by a saw, went viral. The video has now been sent to TikTok's blacklist, which automatically detects it before being uploaded.^[351] TikTok has previously worked to remove graphic content from its platform, including the suicide video that was circulating in September 2020, which was appeared within the recommended clips of TikTok's For You section.^[352][353]

Asia and Oceania

As of August 2023, TikTok is reportedly banned in several Asian countries including Afghanistan,^[354] Armenia, Azerbaijan,^[355][356] India,^{[357][287][358]} Iran,^[359] Kyrgyzstan,^[360] Nepal,^[361] and Syria. The app was previously banned temporarily in Indonesia,^[362] but has been lifted.

With reports that Palestinians resorted to TikTok for promoting their cause after platforms like Facebook and Twitter blocked their content,^[363] Israeli analyst Yoni Ben-Menachem called the app a "tool of dangerous influence" inciting violence against Israelis.^[364][365] According to Ynet, the Palestinian militant group Lion's Den gained much of their popularity through TikTok.^[366] In February 2023, Otzma Yehudit politician Almog Cohen advocated blocking TikTok for all of East Jerusalem.^[367]

By 7 March 2023, 68 Australian federal agencies had banned TikTok on work-related mobile devices. Liberal Party Senator James Paterson called for a federal ban on all government-related devices.^[368] In April, West Australian Premier Mark McGowan banned TikTok from government phones.^[369] On 17 March 2023, the New Zealand Parliamentary Service banned TikTok on devices connected to Parliament, citing cybersecurity concerns.^[370]

On November 14, 2023, Nepali officials prohibited TikTok citing its disruption of social structures within the South Asian nation.^[371]

Europe

In February 2023, the European Commission and European Council banned TikTok from official devices.^[372][373] In March 2023, Belgium banned TikTok from all federal government work devices over cybersecurity, privacy, and misinformation concerns.^[374] In March 2023, Denmark's Ministry of Defence banned TikTok on work devices.^[375] In July 2023, members of the French parliament recommended a general ban of TikTok unless it were to "come clean". Concerns ranged from the company's ownership structure, the effectiveness of the app's content moderation and age limits. Government officials also blamed TikTok and other social media platforms for the riots that ensued after the police shooting of Nahel Merzouk. The recommendation was non-binding.^[376]

Americas

In February 2023, the Canadian government banned TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices.^[379]

Tencent lawsuits

Tencent's WeChat platform has been accused of blocking Douyin's videos.^[414][415] In April 2018, Douyin sued Tencent and accused it of spreading false and damaging information on its WeChat platform, demanding CN¥1 million in compensation and an apology. In June 2018, Tencent filed a lawsuit against Toutiao and Douyin in a Beijing court, alleging they had repeatedly defamed Tencent with negative news and damaged its reputation, seeking a nominal sum of CN¥1 in compensation and a public apology.^[416] In response, Toutiao filed a complaint the following day against Tencent for allegedly unfair competition and asking for CN¥90 million in economic losses.^[417]

Data transfer class action lawsuit

In November 2019, a class action lawsuit was filed in California that alleged that TikTok transferred personally identifiable information of U.S. persons to servers located in China owned by Tencent and Alibaba.^{[418][419][420]} The lawsuit also accused ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, of taking user content without their permission. The plaintiff of the lawsuit, college student Misty Hong, downloaded the app but said she never created an account. She realized a few months later that TikTok had created an account for her using her information (such as biometrics) and made a summary of her information. The lawsuit also alleged that information was sent to Chinese tech giant Baidu.^[421] In July 2020, twenty lawsuits against TikTok were merged into a single class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.^[422] In February 2021, TikTok agreed to pay $92 million to settle the class action lawsuit.^[423]

Voice actor lawsuit

In May 2021, Canadian voice actor Bev Standing filed a lawsuit against TikTok over the use of her voice in the text-to-speech feature without her permission. The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York. TikTok declined to comment. Standing believes that TikTok used recordings she made for the Chinese government-run Institute of Acoustics.^[424] The voice used in the feature was subsequently changed.^[425]

Market Information Research Foundation lawsuit

In June 2021, the Netherlands-based Market Information Research Foundation (SOMI) filed a €1.4 billion lawsuit on behalf of Dutch parents against TikTok, alleging that the app gathers data on children without adequate permission.^[426]

Blackout Challenge lawsuits

Multiple lawsuits have been filed against TikTok, accusing the platform of hosting content that led to the death of at least seven children.^[427] The lawsuits claim that children died after attempting the "Blackout challenge", a TikTok trend that involves strangling or asphyxiating someone or themselves until they black out (passing out). TikTok stated that search queries for the challenge do not show any results, linking instead to protective resources, while the parents of two of the deceased argued that the content showed up on their children's TikTok feeds, without them searching for it.^[428]

Cooperation with law enforcement

In June 2023 The New Zealand Herald reported that TikTok, working in cooperation with both New Zealand and Australian police, deleted 340 accounts and 2,000 videos associated with criminal gangs including the Mongrel Mob, Black Power, Killer Beez, the Comancheros, Mongols, and Rebels. TikTok had earlier drawn criticism for hosting content by organised crime groups promoting the gang lifestyle and fights. A TikTok spokesperon reiterated the platform's efforts to countering "violent" and "hateful" organisations' content and cooperating with police. New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster praised the platform for taking a "socially-responsible stance" against gangs.^[429]