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

SAN FRANCISCO– If it feels like TikTok has been around forever, that’s probably because it has, at least if you count internet time. The question now is whether it will exist much longer, and if so, in what form?

Since 2017, when the Chinese social video app merged with competitor Musical.ly, TikTok has grown from a niche teen app to a global trendsetter. While, according to American officials, it also emerges as a potential threat to national security.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed a law requiring TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell to an American owner or close it down within a year. It’s not clear whether that law will survive an expected legal challenge or whether ByteDance will agree to sell.

This is how TikTok got to this point:

ByteDance was founded in China by entrepreneur Zhang Yimin. The first successful product is Toutiao, a personalized news aggregator for Chinese users.

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

Musical.ly has reached No. 1 on the Apple App Store, following a design change that made the company’s logo visible when users shared their videos.

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

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

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

Rapper Lil Nas The phenomenon is leading to a wave of TikTok videos from music artists who suddenly see TikTok as a crucial way to reach fans.

TikTok settles federal charges of violating U.S. child privacy laws and agrees to pay a $5.7 million fine.

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

The company insists that the moderation of TikTok content, conducted in the US, is not responsible and says the app is a place for entertainment, not politics.

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

US politicians are beginning to sound the alarm about TikTok’s influence, calling for a federal investigation into the Musical.ly acquisition and a national security investigation into TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps. According to news reports, that investigation will begin in November.

The Pentagon is recommending that all U.S. military personnel delete TikTok from all phones, both personal and government-issued. Some services ban the app on military-owned phones. In January, the Pentagon banned the app from all military phones.

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

Privacy groups are filing a complaint claiming TikTok continues to violate U.S. child protection laws and ignores a 2019 settlement agreement. The company “takes the issue of safety seriously” and continues to improve safety measures, the company said.

TikTok hires former Disney executive Kevin Mayer as CEO in an apparent effort to improve U.S. relations. Mayer resigns three months later.

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

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

Trump issues a sweeping but vague executive order banning US companies from any “transactions” with ByteDance and its subsidiaries, including TikTok. A few days later, he issues a second order demanding that ByteDance divest TikTok’s U.S. operations within 90 days.

Microsoft confirms that it is investigating the acquisition of TikTok. The deal never happens; nor would a similar overture from Oracle and Walmart. TikTok, meanwhile, is suing the Trump administration for allegedly violating due process in its executive orders.

Joe Biden is elected president. He offers no new policies on TikTok and won’t take office until January, but Trump’s plans to force a sale of TikTok are starting to unravel anyway. The Trump administration extends the deadlines it imposed on ByteDance and TikTok and ultimately lets them slide altogether.

Newly sworn-in President Joe Biden is delaying the lawsuits surrounding Trump’s plan to ban TikTok, effectively bringing them to a halt.

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

A report from the Wall Street Journal shows that TikTok’s algorithms can flood teens with a flood of harmful material, such as videos recommending extreme diets, a form of eating disorder.

TikTok announces new rules to combat the spread of harmful material, such as viral hoaxes and the promotion of eating disorders.

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

According to data from SensorTower, TikTok becomes the most downloaded app in the world, beating Instagram.

BuzzFeed reports that ByteDance’s China-based employees have repeatedly gained access to TikTok users’ non-public information, based on leaked recordings of more than 80 internal TikTok meetings. TikTok responded with a vague comment touting its commitment to security but not directly addressing the BuzzFeed report.

TikTok also announced that it has migrated its user data to US servers operated by US technology company Oracle. But that hasn’t stopped U.S. officials from growing concerned again about the risk of Chinese authorities gaining access to U.S. user data.

FBI Director Chris Wrap raises national security concerns about TikTok, warning that Chinese officials could manipulate the app’s recommendation algorithm for influence operations.

The White House is giving federal agencies 30 days to ensure TikTok is removed 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.

A bill to ban TikTok or force its sale to an American company is gaining momentum in Congress. TikTok is bringing dozens of its creators to Washington to tell lawmakers to back off, while highlighting changes the company has made to protect user data. TikTok is also irritating lawmakers by sending notifications to users urging them to “make their voices heard now” or risk TikTok being banned; users then flood congressional offices with phone calls.

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

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

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