From Dance Challenges to National Security: The Unforeseen Evolution of TikTok

SAN FRANCISCO — If it seems like TikTok has been part of our lives for an eternity, it’s likely because it has, at least when you consider the scale of internet chronology. What remains uncertain is whether it will persist much longer and, if it does, in what shape?

Launched in 2017, when the Chinese social video platform amalgamated with its rival Musical.ly, TikTok has transitioned from a specialized youth application into an international phenomenon. Naturally, it has also emerged as a potential risk to national security, as stated by U.S. authorities.

On April 24, President Joe Biden enacted law mandating TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to divest to an American proprietor within one year or cease operations. TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, initiated a lawsuit against the U.S., asserting the concerns over security were exaggerated and that the legislation should be overturned as it infringes upon the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously endorsed the federal statute prohibiting TikTok, leading to the well-liked short-form video platform going offline in the U.S. — mere hours prior to the ban being implemented.

Here’s how TikTok reached this crossroads:

March 2012

ByteDance is established in China by businessman Zhang Yimin. Its premier successful product is Toutiao, a tailored news aggregator for Chinese consumers.

July 2014

Musical.ly, a startup later recognized for its namesake application for posting brief lipsyncing music videos, is founded in China by entrepreneur Alex Zhu.

July 2015

Musical.ly achieves the #1 position in the Apple App Store, following a redesign that made the firm’s logo visible whenever users shared their videos.

2016

ByteDance debuts Douyin, a video-sharing application for Chinese users. Its success motivates the company to launch an international variant called TikTok.

November 2017

ByteDance purchases Musical.ly for $1 billion. Nine months later, ByteDance integrates it with TikTok.

Powered by an algorithm that promotes binge-viewing, the platform’s users begin sharing diverse types of videos, encompassing dance routines, cooking demonstrations, and various “challenges” that invite performance, recording, and posting acts ranging from serious to humorous.

February 2019

Rapper Lil Nas X debuts the country-trap hit “Old Town Road” on TikTok, where it goes viral and propels the track to an unprecedented 17-week reign at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. This phenomenon spurs a surge of TikTok content from musical acts who quickly recognize TikTok as an essential avenue for connecting with fans.

TikTok resolves federal allegations of infringing U.S. child-privacy regulations and agrees to cover a $5.7 million penalty.

September 2019

The Washington Post reports that although images of the Hong Kong democracy demonstrations and police actions are prevalent on most social media platforms, they are noticeably missing from TikTok. The same article notes that TikTok posts tagged with #trump2020 amassed over 70 million views.

The company asserts that TikTok’s content moderation, executed in the U.S., is not culpable and maintains that the app is intended for entertainment rather than political discussions.

The Guardian reveals internal documents that allegedly outline TikTok’s instructions to moderators to remove or restrict the visibility of videos addressing delicate issues pertinent to China, such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and the following massacre, Tibetan independence, or the banned religious group Falun Gong.

October 2019

U.S. lawmakers begin expressing concerns regarding TikTok’s impact and call for federal investigations into its acquisition of Musical.ly, along with a national security examination of TikTok and other Chinese-owned applications. This inquiry commences in November, according to media reports.

December 2019

The Pentagon advises all U.S. military personnel to uninstall TikTok from both personal and government-issued devices. Some military branches prohibit the application on service-owned devices. In January, the Pentagon enforces a ban on TikTok across all military devices.

TikTok becomes the second-most downloaded application worldwide, according to statistics from analytics firm SensorTower.

May 2020

Privacy advocacy groups file a complaint asserting that TikTok continues to breach U.S. child-protection regulations and disregards a settlement from 2019. The corporation claims that it “takes the issue of safety seriously” and is persistently enhancing protections.

TikTok employs former Disney executive Kevin Mayer as its chief executive officer in what appears to be an effort to enhance its standing in the U.S. Mayer departs three months later.

July 2020

India prohibits TikTok and numerous other Chinese applications in response to a border conflict with China.

President Donald Trump announces he is contemplating banning TikTok as a counteraction to China’s purported mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

August 2020

Trump issues a sweeping yet ambiguous executive order prohibiting American companies from engaging in any “transactions” with ByteDance and its affiliates, including TikTok. A few days later, he issues a second directive mandating that ByteDance divest its U.S. operations concerning TikTok within 90 days.

Microsoft confirms it is assessing the acquisition of TikTok. However, the deal never comes to fruition; nor does a similar initiative from Oracle and Walmart. Concurrently, TikTok files a lawsuit against the Trump administration for purported violations of due process in its executive orders.

November 2020

Joe Biden is elected as president. He does not propose any new policies regarding TikTok and will not assume office until January, but Trump’s initiatives to compel a sale of TikTok start to dissipate nonetheless. The Trump administration extends deadlines placed on ByteDance and TikTok and ultimately allows them to lapse.

February 2021

Newly inaugurated President Joe Biden suspends the legal actions involving Trump’s efforts to ban TikTok, effectively causing them to be put on hold.

September 2021

TikTok announces it has surpassed one billion monthly active users.

December 2021

A Wall Street Journal investigation uncovers that TikTok’s algorithms can inundate teenagers with a flood of detrimental content such as videos promoting extreme dieting, a form of eating disorder.

February 2022

TikTok reveals new regulations aimed at curbing the distribution of harmful content, including viral fabrications and the endorsement of eating disorders.

April 2022

“The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical,” a production created by two enthusiasts of the Netflix series as a TikTok project, secures the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater.

Album.

TikTok becomes the most popular app globally, surpassing Instagram, as per SensorTower statistics.

June 2022

BuzzFeed reveals that employees of ByteDance, based in China, have repeatedly accessed confidential information of TikTok users, according to leaked audio from over 80 internal TikTok meetings. TikTok replies with an ambiguous statement highlighting its dedication to security, which does not specifically address the BuzzFeed article.

TikTok also announces that it has transferred its user data to U.S. servers overseen by the American tech company Oracle. However, this does not alleviate ongoing concerns among U.S. officials regarding the possibility of Chinese authorities accessing American user data.

December 2022

FBI Director Christopher Wray expresses worries about national security regarding TikTok, cautioning that Chinese officials may manipulate the app’s recommendation algorithm for propaganda purposes.

Additionally, ByteDance reports the dismissal of four employees who accessed information on journalists from BuzzFeed News and The Financial Times while trying to trace leaks of sensitive information about the firm.

February 2023

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

March 2023

Lawmakers intensely question TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a six-hour congressional hearing, where Chew, originally from Singapore, attempts to counter allegations that TikTok and ByteDance are instruments of the Chinese government.

January 2024

TikTok announces it will restrict a feature some researchers utilize to evaluate trending videos on the platform.

March 2024

A proposal to ban TikTok or compel its sale to a U.S. enterprise gains momentum in Congress. TikTok invites numerous creators to Washington to urge lawmakers to reconsider, while highlighting modifications the company has made to safeguard user data. TikTok also frustrates legislators by sending alerts to users urging them to “speak up now” or face the risk of seeing TikTok banned; users then inundate congressional offices with calls.

The House of Representatives approves the TikTok ban-or-sell legislation.

April 2024

The Senate complies, transmitting the bill to President Biden, who enacts it.

May 2024

TikTok alongside its Chinese parent organization ByteDance files a lawsuit against the U.S. federal government to contest a law that would necessitate the sale of ByteDance’s stake or confront a ban, claiming the law is unconstitutional.

June 2024

Former President Donald Trump joins TikTok and starts sharing content related to his campaign.

July 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris joins TikTok and also begins sharing campaign-related content.

Dec. 6, 2024

A federal appeals court panel unanimously upheld a statute that could lead to a ban on TikTok, delivering a significant setback to the widely-used social media platform as it strives for its survival in the U.S. The panel of judges dismissed the company’s objection to the law, which it claimed violated the First Amendment.

Dec. 27, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump requested the Supreme Court to delay the possible TikTok ban from being enforced until his administration could seek a “political resolution” to the matter.

Jan. 17, 2025

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the federal statute banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company, asserting that the national security threat posed by its connections to China outweighs concerns regarding restriction of speech via the app. A ban is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 19, 2025.

Jan. 18, 2025

Hours before a federal ban was set to be implemented, TikTok users in the United States were barred from viewing videos on the widely-used social media platform.

“A law prohibiting TikTok has been enacted in the U.S.,” a message in the app stated. “Regrettably, this means you can’t use TikTok for the time being.”

The company’s app was also eliminated from major app stores, including those operated by Apple and Google, while its website informed users that the short-form video service was no longer accessible.