How TikTok grew from a fun app for teens into a potential national security threat

If it feels similar TikTok has been astir forever, that’s astir apt due to the fact that it has, astatine slightest if you’re measuring via net time. What’s present successful question is whether it volition beryllium astir overmuch longer and, if so, successful what form?

Starting successful 2017, erstwhile the Chinese societal video app merged with its rival Musical.ly, TikTok has grown from a niche teen app into a planetary trendsetter. While, of course, besides emerging arsenic a imaginable nationalist information threat, according to U.S. officials.

On April 24, President Joe Biden signed authorities requiring TikTok genitor ByteDance to merchantability to a U.S. proprietor wrong a twelvemonth oregon to unopen down. TikTok and its China-based genitor company, ByteDance, filed a suit against the U.S., claiming the information concerns were overblown and the instrumentality should beryllium struck down due to the fact that it violates the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court connected Friday unanimously upheld the national instrumentality banning TikTok, and the fashionable abbreviated signifier video work went acheronian successful the U.S. — conscionable hours earlier the prohibition was acceptable to begin.

Here’s however TikTok came to this juncture:

March 2012

ByteDance is founded successful China by entrepreneur Zhang Yimin. Its archetypal deed merchandise is Toutiao, a personalized quality aggregator for Chinese users.

July 2014

Startup Musical.ly, aboriginal known for an eponymous app utilized to station abbreviated lipsyncing euphony videos, is founded successful China by entrepreneur Alex Zhu.

July 2015

Musical.ly hits #1 successful the Apple App Store, pursuing a plan alteration that made the company’s logo disposable erstwhile users shared their videos.

2016

ByteDance launches Douyin, a video sharing app for Chinese users. Its popularity inspires the institution to rotation disconnected a mentation for overseas audiences called TikTok.

November 2017

ByteDance acquires Musical.ly for $1 billion. Nine months later, ByteDance merges it with TikTok.

Powered by an algorithm that encourages binge-watching, users statesman to stock a wide assortment of video connected the app, including creation moves, room nutrient mentation and assorted “challenges” to perform, grounds and station acts that scope from superior to satirical.

February 2019

Rapper Lil Nas X releases the country-trap opus “Old Town Road” connected TikTok, wherever it goes viral and pushes the opus to a grounds 17 weeks successful the #1 spot connected the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The improvement kicks disconnected a question of TikTok videos from philharmonic artists who abruptly spot TikTok arsenic a captious mode to scope fans.

TikTok settles national charges of violating U.S. child-privacy laws and agrees to wage a $5.7 cardinal fine.

September 2019

The Washington Post reports that portion images of Hong Kong ideology protests and constabulary crackdowns are communal connected astir societal media sites, they are strangely absent connected TikTok. The aforesaid communicative notes that TikTok posts with the #trump2020 tag received much than 70 cardinal views.

The institution insists that TikTok contented moderation, conducted successful the U.S., is not liable and says the app is simply a spot for entertainment, not politics.

The Guardian reports connected interior documents that reportedly item however TikTok instructs its moderators to delete oregon bounds the scope of videos touching connected topics delicate to China specified arsenic the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and consequent massacre, Tibetan independency oregon the sanctioned spiritual radical Falun Gong.

October 2019

U.S. politicians statesman to rise alarms astir TikTok’s influence, calling for a national investigations of its Musical.ly acquisition and a nationalist information probe into TikTok and different Chinese-owned apps. That probe begins successful November, according to quality reports.

December 2019

The Pentagon recommends that each U.S. subject unit delete TikTok from each phones, idiosyncratic and government-issued. Some services prohibition the app connected subject owned phones. In January, the Pentagon bans the app from each subject phones.

TikTok becomes the second-most downloaded app successful the world, according to information from analytics steadfast SensorTower.

May 2020

Privacy groups record a ailment alleging TikTok is inactive violating U.S. child-protection laws and flouting a 2019 colony agreement. The institution “takes the contented of safely seriously” and continues to amended safeguards, it says.

TikTok hires erstwhile Disney enforcement Kevin Mayer arsenic its main enforcement serviceman successful an evident effort to amended its U.S. relations. Mayer resigns 3 months later.

July 2020

India bans TikTok and dozens of different Chinese apps successful effect to a borderline clash with China.

President Donald Trump says helium is considering banning TikTok arsenic retaliation for China’s alleged mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

August 2020

Trump issues a sweeping but vague enforcement bid banning American companies from immoderate “transaction” with ByteDance and its subsidiaries, including TikTok. Several days later, helium issues a 2nd bid demanding that ByteDance divest itself of TikTok’s U.S. operations wrong 90 days.

Microsoft confirms it is exploring acquisition of TikTok. The woody ne'er materializes; neither does a akin overture from Oracle and Walmart. TikTok, meanwhile, sues the Trump medication for alleged usurpation of owed process successful its enforcement orders.

November 2020

Joe Biden is elected president. He doesn’t connection caller argumentation connected TikTok and won’t instrumentality bureau until January, but Trump’s plans to unit a merchantability of TikTok commencement to unravel anyway. The Trump medication extends the deadlines it had imposed connected ByteDance and TikTok and yet lets them descent altogether.

February 2021

Newly sworn-in President Joe Biden postpones the ineligible cases involving Trump’s program to prohibition TikTok, efficaciously bringing them to a halt.

September 2021

TikTok announces it has much than a cardinal monthly progressive users.

December 2021

A Wall Street Journal study finds TikTok algorithms tin flood teens with a torrent of harmful worldly specified arsenic videos recommending utmost dieting, a signifier of eating disorder.

February 2022

TikTok announces caller rules to deter the dispersed of harmful worldly specified arsenic viral hoaxes and promotion of eating disorders.

April 2022

“The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical,” a task created by 2 fans of the Netflix amusement arsenic a TikTok project, wins the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.

TikTok becomes the astir downloaded app successful the world, beating retired Instagram, according to SensorTower data.

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June 2022

BuzzFeed reports that China-based ByteDance employees person repeatedly accessed the nonpublic accusation of TikTok users, based connected leaked recordings from much than 80 interior TikTok meetings. TikTok responds with a vague remark touting its committedness to information that doesn’t straight code the BuzzFeed report.

TikTok besides announces it has migrated its idiosyncratic information to U.S. servers managed by the U.S. tech steadfast Oracle. But that doesn’t forestall caller alarm among U.S. officials astir the hazard of Chinese authorities accessing U.S. idiosyncratic data.

December 2022

FBI Director Christopher Wray raises nationalist information concerns astir TikTok, informing that Chinese officials could manipulate the app’s proposal algorithm for power operations.

ByteDance besides said it fired 4 employees who accessed information connected journalists from Buzzfeed News and The Financial Times portion attempting to way down leaks of confidential materials astir the company.

February 2023

The White House gives national agencies 30 days to guarantee TikTok is deleted from each government-issued mobile devices. Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission pass that ByteDance could stock TikTok idiosyncratic information with China’s authoritarian government.

March 2023

Legislators grill TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew astatine a six-hour legislature proceeding wherever Chew, a autochthonal of Singapore, attempts to propulsion backmost connected assertions that TikTok and ByteDance are tools of the Chinese government.

January 2024

TikTok said it was restricting a instrumentality immoderate researchers usage to analyse fashionable videos connected the platform.

March 2024

A measure to prohibition TikTok oregon unit its merchantability to a U.S. institution gathers steam successful Congress. TikTok brings dozens of its creators to Washington to archer lawmakers to backmost off, portion emphasizing changes the institution has made to support idiosyncratic data. TikTok besides annoys legislators by sending notifications to users urging them to “speak up now” oregon hazard seeing TikTok banned; users past flood legislature offices with calls.

The House of Representatives passes the TikTok ban-or-sell bill.

April 2024

The Senate follows suit, sending the measure to President Biden, who signs it.

May 2024

TikTok and its Chinese genitor institution ByteDance writer the U.S. national authorities to situation a instrumentality that would unit the merchantability of ByteDance’s involvement oregon look a ban, saying that the instrumentality is unconstitutional.

June 2024

Former President Donald Trump joins TikTok and begins posting campaign-related content.

July 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris joins TikTok and besides begins posting campaign-related material.

Dec. 6, 2024

A national appeals tribunal sheet unanimously upheld a instrumentality that could pb to a prohibition connected TikTok, handing a resounding decision to the fashionable societal media level arsenic it fights for its endurance successful the U.S. The sheet of judges rebuffed the company’s situation of the statute, which it argued had ran afoul of the First Amendment.

Dec. 27, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to intermission the imaginable TikTok prohibition from going into effect until his medication tin prosecute a “political resolution” to the issue.

Jan. 17, 2025

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the national instrumentality banning TikTok opening unless it’s sold by its China-based genitor company, holding that the hazard to nationalist information posed by its ties to China overcomes concerns astir limiting code by the app. A prohibition is acceptable to into effect connected Jan. 19, 2025.

Jan. 18, 2025

TikTok users successful the United States were prevented from watching videos connected the fashionable societal media level conscionable hours earlier a national prohibition was acceptable to instrumentality effect.

“A instrumentality banning TikTok has been enacted successful the U.S.,” a connection successful the app said. “Unfortunately that means you can’t usage TikTok for now.”

The company’s app was besides removed from salient app stores, including the ones operated by Apple and Google, portion its website told users that the short-form video level was nary longer available.