TIKTOK AFTER TRUMP
TIKTOK HAS SUCCEEDED wildly where similar short-form video platforms—including Vine and the Facebook-backed Lasso—did not. As of August 2020, the app had 100 million active U.S. users, up from about 11.3 million at the start of 2018 and 39.9 million in October 2019. While becoming a vehicle for teen influencers, viral dance sensations, and sketch comedy, however, TikTok also became a target of the Trump administration’s animosity toward both China and social media.
China’s version of TikTok, Douyin, was launched in 2016 by ByteDance, and relaunched it as Douyin’s global cousin, TikTok. The app’s U.S. arm, which employs more than 1,500 people, stores user data in the United States and Singapore.
