How TikTok Went From a Fun App for Teens to a Potential National Security Threat

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — If it feels like TikTok has been around forever, that’s probably because it has, at least if you’re measuring time online. What is now in question is whether it will remain in force for much longer and, if so, in what form?

Starting in 2017, when the Chinese social video app merged with its competitor Musical.ly, TikTok went from a niche app for teens to a global trendsetter. Although, of course, it also emerges as a potential threat to national security, according to US officials.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed legislation requiring TikTok parent ByteDance will sell to a US owner within a year or terminate. It’s unclear whether that law will survive an expected legal challenge or whether ByteDance would agree to sell.

See how TikTok got to this juncture:

March 2012

ByteDance was founded in China by entrepreneur Zhang Yimin. That’s it first successful product is Toutiaoa news aggregator tailored for Chinese users.

July 2014

Startup Musical.ly, later known for an eponymous app used to post short lip-sync music videos, was founded in China by entrepreneur Alex Zhu.

July 2015

Musical.ly hits #1 on the Apple App Store, after a design change which made the company logo visible when users shared their videos.

2016

ByteDance launches Douyin, a video-sharing app for Chinese users. Its popularity inspires the company to launch a version for foreign audiences called TikTok.

November 2017

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

Powered by an algorithm that encourages binge-watching, users begin sharing a wide variety of videos on the app, including dance moves, cooking food in the kitchen, and various “challenges” to perform, record, and post acts that range from the serious to the satirical.

February 2019

Rapper Lil Nas X releases the country song “Old Town Road” on TikTok, where it goes viral and takes the song to a record 17 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The phenomenon kicks off a wave of TikTok videos from music artists who suddenly see TikTok as a critical way to reach fans.

TikTok establishes itself Federal charges of violating US children’s privacy laws and agrees to pay a fine of $5.7 million.

September 2019

The Washington Post reports that while images of Hong Kong democracy protests and police crackdowns are common on most social media sites, they are strangely absent on TikTok. The same story notes that TikTok posts tagged #trump2020 have received more than 70 million views.

The company insists that TikTok’s content moderation, carried out in the US, is not responsible and says the app is a place for entertainment, not politics.

The story continues

The Guardian reports on internal documents that allegedly detail how TikTok instructs its moderators to delete or limit the reach of videos addressing topics sensitive to China such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and subsequent massacre, Tibetan independence, or the sanctioned religious group Falun Gong.

October 2019

US politicians are starting to sound alarms about TikTok’s influence, calling for a Federal investigations into its Musical.ly acquisition and a national security investigation into TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps. This investigation begins in November, according to reports.

December 2019

The Pentagon recommends that all US military personnel delete TikTok from all phones, both personal and government-issued. Some services prohibit the app on military phones. In January, the Pentagon banned the app from all military phones.

TikTok becomes the second most downloaded app in the world, according to data from analytics firm SensorTower.

May 2020

Privacy groups file a complaint alleging that TikTok is still violating US child protection laws and disregarding a 2019 agreement. The company “takes security seriously” and continues to improve safeguards, it says.

TikTok hires former Disney exec Kevin Mayer as its CEO, in an apparent attempt to improve its relations with the US. Mayer resigns three months later.

July 2020

India bans TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps in response to a border clash with China.

President Donald Trump says he is considering banning TikTok as retaliation for China’s alleged mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic.

August 2020

Trump issues a comprehensive but vague executive order prohibiting American companies from any “transactions” with ByteDance and its subsidiaries, including TikTok. Several days later, he issues a second order demanding that ByteDance divests from TikTok’s US operations within 90 days.

Microsoft confirms that it is Exploring TikTok Acquisition. The deal never materializes; nor a similar opening from Oracle and Walmart. Meanwhile, TikTok sues the Trump administration for alleged violation of due process in his executive orders.

November 2020

Joe Biden is elected president. He doesn’t offer a new policy on TikTok and won’t take office until January, but Trump’s plans to force TikTok’s sale are starting to fall apart anyway. The Trump administration extends the deadlines it imposed on ByteDance and TikTok and eventually lets them pass entirely.

February 2021

Newly inaugurated President Joe Biden delays legal proceedings involving Trump’s plan to ban TikTok, effectively stalling them.

September 2021

TikTok announces that it has more than one billion monthly active users.

December 2021

A Wall Street Journal report finds that TikTok’s algorithms can inundate teens with a torrent of harmful material, such as videos that recommend extreme dieting, a form of eating disorder.

February 2022

TikTok announces new rules to prevent the spread of harmful materials such as viral rumors and promotion of eating disorders.

April 2022

“The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical”, a project created by two fans of the Netflix show as a TikTok project, wins Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.

TikTok becomes the most downloaded app in the world, surpassing Instagram, according to data from SensorTower.

June 2022

BuzzFeed reports that China-based ByteDance employees have repeatedly accessed non-public information of TikTok users, based on leaked recordings of more than 80 internal TikTok meetings. TikTok responds with a vague comment touting its commitment to security that doesn’t directly address BuzzFeed’s report.

TikTok also announces that it has migrated your user data to servers in the US managed by the North American technology company Oracle. But that doesn’t stop a new alarm among US authorities about the risk of Chinese authorities accessing US users’ data.

December 2022

FBI Director Chris Wrap raises national security concerns about TikTokwarning that Chinese authorities could manipulate the app’s recommendation algorithm for influence operations.

February 2023

The White House gives federal agencies 30 days to ensure TikTok is deleted from all government-issued mobile devices. Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission warn that ByteDance could share TikTok user data with China’s authoritarian government.

March 2024

A bill to ban TikTok or force its sale to a US company gains traction in Congress. TikTok brings dozens of its creators to Washington to tell lawmakers to back off while also emphasizing changes the company has made to protect users’ data. TikTok also angers lawmakers by sending users notifications urging them to “speak up now” or risk seeing TikTok banned; users then flood Congressional offices with calls.

Lawmakers grill TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in a six-hour congressional hearing where Chew, a native of Singapore, tries to reject claims that TikTok and ByteDance are tools of the Chinese government.

The House of Representatives approves the bill to ban or sell TikTok.

April 2024

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