Beginning in 2017, when the Chinese social video platform integrated with its rival Musical.ly, TikTok transitioned from a specialized teen application to an international influencer. Simultaneously, it emerged as a potential national security concern, as indicated by U.S. officials.
The startup Musical.ly, later recognized for its eponymous application used for posting brief lipsync music videos, is founded in China by entrepreneur Alex Zhu.
ByteDance launches Douyin, a video sharing application for users in China. Its success leads the company to create an international variant known as TikTok.
ByteDance purchases Musical.ly for $1 billion. Nine months afterwards, ByteDance merges it with TikTok.
Fueled by an algorithm that fosters binge-viewing, users start to share a diverse array of videos on the app, encompassing dance performances, culinary preparations, and various “challenges” to undertake, capture, and upload actions that range from earnest to humorous.
Rapper Lil Nas X debuts the country-trap track “Old Town Road” on TikTok, where it becomes a sensation and propels the song to a historic 17 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. This craze initiates a surge of TikTok clips from musical creators who suddenly perceive TikTok as an essential platform to engage fans.
The Washington Post reveals that while portrayals of Hong Kong democratic protests and police suppression are prevalent on many social media platforms, they are curiously missing on TikTok. The same article mentions that TikTok posts tagged with #trump2020 amassed over 70 million views.
The company asserts that TikTok’s content moderation, carried out in the U.S., is appropriate and maintains that the app serves as a platform for entertainment, not politics.
The Guardian reports on internal documents that allegedly outline how TikTok directs its moderators to remove or restrict the reach ofvideos addressing issues sensitive to China such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and ensuing massacre, Tibetan independence, or the proscribed religious group Falun Gong.
October 2019
U.S. lawmakers start to voice concerns about TikTok’s impact, advocating for a federal inquiries into its Musical.ly acquisition and a national security investigation into TikTok and other apps owned by Chinese companies. That inquiry commences in November, according to news articles.
December 2019
The Pentagon advises all U.S. military staff to remove TikTok from personal as well as government-issued devices. Certain branches prohibit the app on military-owned phones. In January, the Pentagon officially bans the app on all military devices.
TikTok rises to the status of the second-most downloaded application globally, based on figures from analytics firm SensorTower.
May 2020
Privacy organizations file a grievance claiming TikTok continues to breach U.S. child-safety legislation and ignore a 2019 settlement agreement. The enterprise “takes the matter of safety seriously” and pledges to enhance protections, it states.
TikTok recruits former Disney executive Kevin Mayer as its chief executive in a clear effort to mend its U.S. relations. Mayer departs three months later.
July 2020
India prohibits TikTok along with several other Chinese applications following a border confrontation with China.
President Donald Trump expresses he is contemplating banning TikTok as a response to China’s purported mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis.
August 2020
Trump issues a far-reaching but ambiguous executive order prohibiting U.S. businesses from any “transaction” with ByteDance and its subsidiaries, which includes TikTok. A few days later, he issues a second order instructing ByteDance to divest its U.S. TikTok operations within 90 days.
Microsoft acknowledges it is considering acquiring TikTok. The agreement never comes to fruition; a similar proposal from Oracle and Walmart also fails. In the meantime, TikTok initiates legal action against the Trump administration for purportedly violating due process in its executive orders.
November 2020
Joe Biden is elected as president. He does not propose a new policy regarding TikTok and will not assume office until January, but Trump’s efforts to enforce a sale of TikTok begin to fall apart anyway. The Trump administration extends the deadlines it had enforced on ByteDance and TikTok and eventually allows them to lapse entirely.
February 2021
Newly inaugurated President Joe Biden halts the legal proceedings concerning Trump’s initiative to ban TikTok, effectively halting them.
September 2021
TikTok announces it has surpassed a billion monthly active users.
December 2021
A Wall Street Journal article reveals TikTok’s algorithms can inundate adolescents with a barrage of detrimental content including videos endorsing extreme dieting, a type of eating disorder.
February 2022
TikTok introduces new regulations aimed at curbing the dissemination of harmful content such as viral falsehoods and the promotion of eating disorders.
April 2022
“The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical,” a venture developed by two admirers of the Netflix series as a TikTok initiative, claims the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.
TikTok becomes the leading downloaded application globally, surpassing Instagram, as per SensorTower data.
June 2022
BuzzFeed reveals that ByteDance personnel located in China have repeatedly accessed confidential data from TikTok users, based on leaked recordings from over 80 internal TikTok assemblies. TikTok replies with an ambiguous statement promoting its dedication to security that fails to directly address the BuzzFeed report.
TikTok also reveals it has transferred its user data to U.S. servers overseen by the American tech firm Oracle. However, this does not alleviate ongoing concerns among U.S. officials regarding the potential for Chinese authorities to access American user information.
December 2022
FBI Director Christopher Wray expresses national security apprehensions regarding TikTok, cautioning that Chinese officials might manipulate the app’s recommendation algorithm for influence campaigns.
ByteDance also announced the termination of four employees who accessed information on journalists from BuzzFeed News and The Financial Times while trying to trace leaks of private documents about the company.
February 2023
The White House grants federal agencies 30 days to guarantee that TikTok is eliminated from all government-issued mobile devices. Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission caution that ByteDance might share TikTok user data with the authoritarian Chinese regime.
March 2023
Legislators question TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a six-hour congressional hearing where Chew, originally from Singapore, endeavors to counter claims that TikTok and ByteDance serve as instruments of the Chinese government.
January 2024
TikTok stated it was limiting a tool utilized by some researchers to analyze trending videos on the platform.
March 2024
A legislative proposal to either ban TikTok or compel its sale to a U.S. entity gains momentum in Congress. TikTok brings numerous creators to Washington to urge lawmakers to reconsider, while highlighting the modifications the company has implemented to safeguard user data. TikTok also frustrates lawmakers by sending alerts to users encouraging them to “voice your opinion now” or face the possibility of TikTok being banned; this leads to a surge of calls to congressional offices.
The House of Representatives approves the TikTok ban-or-sell legislation.
April 2024
The Senate follows suit, forwarding the bill to President Biden, who subsequently signs it.
May 2024
TikTok and its Chinese parent corporation ByteDance file a lawsuit against the U.S. federal government to contest a law that would mandate the sale of ByteDance’s interest or result in a ban, asserting that the law violates the constitution.
June 2024
Former President Donald Trump joins TikTok and starts sharing campaign-related content.
July 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris also joins TikTok and begins posting campaign-related material.
Dec. 6, 2024
A federal appeals court panel unanimously endorsed a statute that could lead to a ban on TikTok, delivering a significant setback to the widely used social media platform as it battles for its existence in the U.S. The judicial panel dismissed the company’s opposition to the legislation, which it claimed violated the First Amendment.
Dec. 27, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump urged the Supreme Court to suspend the potential TikTok ban from taking effect until his administration can seek a “political resolution” to the situation.
Jan. 17, 2025
The Supreme Court unanimously supported the federal statute prohibiting TikTok from operating unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company, asserting that the national security risk posed by its connections to China overrides concerns regarding restricting expression through the app. A ban is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 19, 2025.
Jan. 18, 2025
Users of TikTok in the United States were blocked from viewing videos on the popular social networking platform just hours prior to the federal prohibition becoming imminent.
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S.,” a notification in the app stated. “Sadly, this implies you are unable to use TikTok for the time being.”
The company’s application was also removed from major app stores, including those managed by Apple and Google, while its website informed users that the short-form video platform was no longer accessible.
David Hamilton, The Associated Press
