TikTok, a fun app, becomes a security issue in the United States

As the U.S. Supreme Court weighs whether to uphold a law that could ban TikTok in the United States, here’s a look at the rise of the social video clipping app.

Genesis

In 2016, Beijing-based ByteDance launched Douyin, a short video sharing app, making it available only in China.

ByteDance launched TikTok for the international market the following year, shortly before purchasing song “lip-syncing” app Musical.ly and merging it with TikTok.

The social network has become a success thanks to its algorithm offering endless collections of short, looping and generally playful videos, published by users.

Pandemic boom

TikTok’s popularity soared during the declared Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, as people endured lockdowns relied on the internet for entertainment and entertainment.

As a result, authorities began to take an interest in the influence and addictive appeal of TikTok.

TikTok has become one of the world’s most downloaded apps, with officials increasingly wary of the possibility of the Chinese government influencing ByteDance or accessing user data.

India banned TikTok in July 2020 due to tensions with China.

Targeted by Trump

While Donald Trump was President of the United States in 2020, he signed executive orders banning TikTok in the country.

Trump has accused TikTok, without evidence, of siphoning U.S. user data to benefit Beijing and censoring posts to please Chinese officials.

Trump’s decision comes amid political tensions between Washington and Beijing.

During a failed re-election bid, the Republican campaigned on an anti-China message.

Between the legal challenges and Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, the executive orders did not take effect.

billion mark

In September 2021, TikTok announced that it had 1 billion monthly users worldwide.

But concerns have grown that TikTok users face risks of addiction, propaganda and espionage.

In 2022, BuzzFeed reported that China-based ByteDance employees accessed non-public information of TikTok users.

ByteDance has attempted to ease privacy concerns by hosting user data on servers run in the United States by Oracle.

The move has not allayed concerns in the United States, where TikTok has been banned on devices used by the military.

A number of other government agencies and academic institutes have followed suit, banning their members from using TikTok.

TikTok’s Singaporean chief executive Shou Zi Chew was questioned by members of the US Congress during a six-hour hearing in March 2023.

Sell ​​or leave

TikTok was back in the spotlight in the United States in 2024, when President Joe Biden authorized a law requiring a ban on TikTok if ByteDance does not sell the app to a company not associated with a national security adversary.

Washington’s stated goal is to reduce the risk that Beijing will spy on or manipulate TikTok users, particularly the app’s 170 million U.S. users.

TikTok remains adamant that it has never shared its users’ data with the Chinese government or done its bidding on the social network.

ByteDance sued the US government, arguing that the law violates the right to free speech.

A final decision in the case must be made by the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed Tuesday to consider whether the ongoing ban violates the Constitution.

The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing on the case for January 10.

President-elect Donald Trump, who returns to office on January 20, has signaled that he may intervene on TikTok’s behalf.

Trump recently spoke about having a “soft spot” for TikTok, and this year his campaign has used the app to win support among young voters. – AFP Relaxnews