TikTok has reportedly been in talks with the US treasury department over a deal to address such national security concerns that would allow it to continue to operate in the US. And reports from BuzzFeed this year showed US user data continued to be accessed by ByteDance employees in China. TikTok has acknowledged that some backups of US user data would continue to be stored in China and Singapore. Starting in June 2022, TikTok said, “100% of US user traffic is being routed to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure”.īut questions over Chinese access to US user data persist. Under pressure, TikTok moved to store and process the data of US users to servers of American internet company Oracle. In 2020, TikTok’s future in the US briefly looked insecure, when the Trump administration threatened to ban the platform outright or force ByteDance to sell it off to an American company. Its ties to China: Meanwhile, US legislators are increasingly worried about the platform’s ties to China. But TikTok comes with its own problems, including concerns that its algorithm-driven feed can make unhealthy trends go viral before they can be vetted for safety. That key difference, and its algorithm’s stunning efficacy, have raised alarm at the mental health impact of such intensive targeting.Ĭoncerns about the consequences of extensive social media use have been long standing, with studies suggesting excessive use can exacerbate mental health problems and contribute to suicidal ideation. The platform, according to internal documents leaked in 2021, optimizes content for minutes and hours of view time – a departure from its competitors who historically prioritized clicks and engagement. The algorithm: TikTok’s algorithm, which serves intensely fine-tuned content to users, is a key element of its success. Meta in recent years has invested billions in Reels, its TikTok clone, but has struggled to monetize it.

Companies such as Meta have struggled to stem a mass exodus of users under the age of 25 from their platforms, and internal documents leaked by Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen in 2021 showed that the company had made retaining young users at Instagram and Facebook a top priority. TikTok’s powerful appeal to young people has made its competitors eager to mimic its rise. Six bar charts show the age distribution for people who use TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Reddit.

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