TikTok is a short-form video platform that initially began as Musical.ly in July 2014,¹⁾ then ByteDance acquired it on Novemeber 9, 2017²⁾ and rebranded it to TikTok by August 2, 2018.³⁾ Occasionally, the platform has undergone severe criticism for a wide variety of factors.

On the surface, it's a fast-paced platform that heavily relies on an algorithm to let users mindlessly sift past short-form videos that can be cute, entertaining, or informative. However, the issues arise when you start looking at how the algorithm crafts echo chambers which causes misinformation or propaganda to spread, challenge content moderation, or question user privacy on a biometric-heavy platform.⁴⁾

In 2014, entrepreneurs Jùn(Alex) Zhū⁵⁾ and Lùyù(Louis) Yáng⁶⁾ developed the short-form education app, Cicada, which failed to reach its target demographic. The team would proceed to spend 30 days reworking the app, then unveiled Musical.ly on July 2014, deciding to expand on short-form content in general. This was a success, as it captured their target demographic and managed to retain a userbase.

Musical.ly saw exponential growth by April 2015, repositioning their watermark⁷⁾ and indirectly drawing in Lip Sync Battle's audience,⁸⁾ branding itself as a lip-synching app. Meanwhile in China, ByteDance had developed A.me in September 2016, the Kwai clone⁹⁾ that became Dǒuyīn (抖音, lit. “shake sound”),¹⁰⁾¹¹⁾ and ended up acquiring the Musical.ly app for an undisclosed amount on November 9, 2017.^12)13)14)

Over time, the two apps gradually became uniform, finally rebranding to TikTok on August 2, 2018,¹⁵⁾ and most hated the changes at first.^16)17)18)19) This eventually passed by Summer 2019, especially during the pandemic lockdowns, and the app has since become a significant household name. Naturally, this would be an issue for competing social platforms and corrupt politicians.

With the platform's rise in 2019, a number of Statesian conservatives, some backed by Meta Platforms,²⁰⁾²¹⁾ began demanding investigations of TikTok²²⁾ and the Trump administration considered a ban unless they divested. Trump would sign Executive Order 13942 on August 6, 2020, but it was taken to court, given an injunction,²³⁾ then dropped as Biden signed Executive Order 14034 on June 9, 2021.²⁴⁾

In spite of this, several states would start to ban TikTok from government-issued devices,²⁵⁾ which the Biden administration followed suit on December 29, 2022.²⁶⁾ As more people began to oppose the ban²⁷⁾ and sympathize with the Palestinian struggle,²⁸⁾²⁹⁾ the push to ban TikTok suddenly became bipartisan with Biden resuming pressures to divest with the PAFACA Act on April 24, 2024.³⁰⁾

• The name “TikTok” stems from the “tick-tock” sound that analog clocks make, presumably chosen to represent the platform's short, snappy videos, while also matching its Chinese counterpart.
  • In the Chinese language, the onomatopoeia for “tick-tock” is rendered as “dīdā” (滴答) instead.
  • Due to the platform's popularity, it's become a bit inconvenient to search for “tick-tock” being used as an ominous warning, such as “Tick-Tock for TikTok” for example.^31)32)33)34)
• A number of users engage in “algospeak”, a form of self-censorship that borrows euphemisms, emojis, and leetspeak, to bypass the internet's growing use of moderation filters.^35)36)37)
  • On the other hand, it does sound a bit paranoid and superstitious, overlooking that users may not have the time to listen or develop compassion fatigue through repeated exposure.
  • In late 2022, The Washington Post conducted their experiment on alleged TikTok suppression, but concluded that their experiment was simply flawed and wrote it off as inconclusive.³⁸⁾
• Personally, I don't have any memories of Musical.ly, since it got popular after I graduated high school, but I do vaguely recall being confused whenever I saw their early advertisements.
• During the 2018 rebrand, it ended up catapulting itself into the public consciousness since it became cool to hate on TikTok, solely because it was the “cringe duet” and “women dancing” app.
  • At the same time, Russian users on Sosach began trolling people with bait-and-switch edits of said dancing with the Ricardo Milos dance, though Milos would later discourage this.
• There has been a phenomenon of well-known, iconic songs becoming “TikTok songs” through TikTok, which eventually comes down to influence what radio stations decide to play over the air.
• My only minor critique is that the short-form video format has led to a resurgence of screamers and gore or shock videos, though these have become a bit rare to come across lately.

• YouTube - Arguably pioneered the format, killed it, then brought it back as YouTube Shorts.

• TikTok - The front page of TikTok.
  • @tiktok_us and @tiktokpolicy on Twitter