It works with Common Sense Networks to check for safety and age appropriateness and with the Poynter Institute for reliability of information. In March 2023, TikTok introduced a dedicated feed for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content. Creators who posted saying that they would not be changing their content, such as Green, were met with significant criticism.
- 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.
- The article published stats about the most popular plastic surgeons on TikTok up to February 2021 and at the time, five different plastic surgeons had surpassed 1 million followers on the platform.
- Many were also concerned with the app affecting users’ attention spans due to the short-form nature of the content.
- This increased potential Web traffic linked to the riddle posters’ accounts on OnlyFans.
- 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.
- TikTok said that a significant proportion of its userbase comes from non-US regions such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia and that hashtags should not be cherry-picked due to differences in the number of views per post and the age of a post or tag.
- Following the reports, TikTok confirmed that employees in China could have access to U.S. data.
On September 14, 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported the US and China have reached the "framework of a deal" for the US operations of TikTok to be sold to a consortium of investors in the US including Larry Ellison of Oracle. While Beijing preferred TikTok remain under ByteDance's control, the sale could happen through a competitive process or with U.S. government involvement. The company posted job listings for staff for a series of order fulfillment centers in the U.S. and is reportedly planning to start the new live shopping business before the end of the year. 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. 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."
Competition with other platforms
TikTok has faced criticism for transferring European user data to servers in the United States. A data scientist said U.S. user data were emailed to ByteDance workers in China to identify viewer interests. It would also digitally sign software code, approve updates, and oversee content moderation and recommendation. A 2024 unclassified threat assessment by the Director of National Intelligence said "TikTok accounts run by a Chinese propaganda slotrize casino no deposit bonus arm reportedly targeted candidates" during the 2022 United States elections. Whether similar information will remain exempt from being treated as "protected user data" is being negotiated with Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). In June 2023, TikTok confirmed that some financial information, such as tax forms and Social Security numbers, of American content creators are stored in China.
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Many stars got their start on musical.ly, which merged with TikTok on 2 August 2018. It is reported that TikTok Music features songs from major record companies like Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group. If an eligible creator's video reaches the top 4%, they will receive a 50% share of the revenue from ads displayed with the video.
About this app
In October 2022, Forbes reported that a team at ByteDance planned to surveil certain U.S. citizens for undisclosed reasons. A third party will oversee the cybersecurity policies, data flows, and personnel access independently of TikTok. Another said TikTok had to employ better data collection practices than Meta or Google due to the scrutiny it received. TikTok responded by saying that Project Texas already is a re-engineering of the app and that the former employee left in 2022 before the project specifications were finalized. In March 2023, a former employee of the company said Project Texas did not go far enough and that a complete "re-engineering" would be needed.
- In March 2025, the ICO opened another investigation into TikTok concerning its use of children’s personal information to recommend content to them.
- 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.
- 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.
- The company claimed that no illegal activity of any kind is supported on the platform.
- It is reported that TikTok Music features songs from major record companies like Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group.
- 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.”
- It was also the most-downloaded app on Apple’s App Store in 2018 and 2019, surpassing Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
In December 2022, it was reported that a cosmetic surgery procedure known as buccal fat removal was going viral on the platform. TikTok has banned the advertising of cosmetic surgeries on the platform but cosmetic surgeons are still able to reach large audiences using unpaid photo and video posts. In April 2022, NBC News reported that surgeons were giving influencers on the platform discounted or free cosmetic surgeries in order to advertise the procedures to their audiences.
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The court cited TikTok's negligence in failing to implement "necessary and adequate measures" to prevent the viral video challenges. On December 30, 2024, Venezuela's Supreme Court fined TikTok $10 million over viral challenges that authorities say led to the deaths of three children. TikTok raised the minimum age for livestreaming from 16 to 18 after a BBC News investigation found hundreds of accounts going live from Syrian refugee camps. The growth of popularity and access to TikTok has contributed to a growth in popularity of digital feminist movements and discourse originating from the platform. After a new set of Russian war censorship laws was installed in March 2022, the company announced a series of restrictions on Russian and non-Russian posts and livestreams. Furthermore, TikTok developed an in-app Electoral Center in partnership with the Central Electoral Commission of Moldova and worked with Reuters and the STOP FALS!
Features
In 2019, The Guardian reported that TikTok had censored videos of topics not favored by the Chinese government. 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. NBC reported that videos using the hashtags '#plasticsurgery' and '#lipfiller' had amassed a combined 26 billion views on the platform.
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Content is curated by TikTok's artificial intelligence depending on the content a user liked, interacted with, or searched. On 18 April 2024, Notes first released to users in Canada and Australia for limited testing. A Meta spokesperson said that all platforms, including TikTok, should face scrutiny.
They also reported that facilities that offered these surgeries were also posting about them on TikTok. In 2020, Charli D'Amelio, the most-followed person on TikTok at the time, also made a #NoseJobCheck video to show the results of her surgery to repair a broken nose. In 2021, it was reported that a trend known as the #NoseJobCheck trend was going viral on TikTok.