In January 2020, left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America said that TikTok hosted misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic despite a recent policy against misinformation. The platform has also been used to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, such as clips from Plandemic. In June 2021, TikTok made an apology after a shock video, showing a girl dancing which then cuts to a graphic scene of a man being beheaded by a saw, went viral. Concerns have been voiced regarding content relating to, and the promotion and spreading of, hate speech and far-right extremism, such as antisemitism, islamophobia, racism, and xenophobia. According to their survey, people who use TikTok more than three hours daily are significantly more positive about China’s human rights record compared to those who do not use the app.
The app has spawned numerous viral trends, Internet celebrities, and music trends around the world. On 19 July 2023, TikTok Music was expanded for select users in Australia, Mexico and Singapore. However, a few days later, users on Twitter discovered that the software uses code from the open-source OBS Studio. Accounts of users that are of age, have at least 100,000 followers and agree to the terms can activate a “Tip” button on their profile, which allows followers to tip any amount, starting from $1. The app expanded its parental controls feature called “Family Pairing” in September 2020 to provide parents and guardians with educational resources to understand what children on TikTok are exposed to. TikTok announced a “family safety mode” in February 2020 for parents to be able to control their children’s presence on the app.
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It also announced that US user traffic would now be routed through Oracle Cloud and that backup copies would be deleted from other servers. Following the reports, TikTok confirmed that employees in China could have access to US data. As a consequence, the Senate Intelligence Committee including US lawmakers Mark Warner and Marco Rubio called for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate ByteDance and whether TikTok had misled them.
TikTok raised the minimum age for livestreaming from 16 to 18 after a BBC News investigation found hundreds of accounts going live ruhtinas from Syrian refugee camps. As of January 2026, the features are only available in certain regions, including the United States and Canada. Despite safety concerns, TikTok began rolling out photo, video, and voice messaging around 2025.
- The company posted job listings for staff for a series of order fulfillment centers in the US and is reportedly planning to start the new live shopping business before the end of the year.
- A 2025 meta-analysis found that use of TikTok was correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression, with stronger links in females and users under 24 years old.
- A data scientist said US user data were emailed to ByteDance workers in China to identify viewer interests.
- The momentum of digital feminist movements through platforms like TikTok have additionally encouraged many social media agents and marketing campaigns around the world to adopt some degree of feminism as a part of their online image or personal brand.
- Paxton claimed that the Texas Department of Public Safety gathered several pieces of content showing the attempted recruitment of teenagers to smuggle people or goods across the Mexico–United States border.
- TikTok said only a few individuals can approve heating in the US and the promoted videos take up less than 0.002% of user feeds.
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In September 2021, the Ireland Data Protection Commission (DPC) launched investigations into TikTok concerning the protection of minors’ data and transfers of personal data to China. The US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia reportedly subpoenaed information from ByteDance regarding its surveillance of journalists on TikTok. In December 2022, ByteDance confirmed after internal investigation that the data of two journalists and their close contacts had been accessed by its employees from China and the United States.
On 23 January 2018, the TikTok app ranked first among free application downloads on app stores in Thailand and other countries. Employees have reported that multiple overlaps exist between TikTok and ByteDance in terms of personnel management and product development. Its parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, is owned by founders and Chinese investors, other global investors, and employees. Many other countries limit TikTok’s use on government-issued devices for security or privacy reasons.
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In other cases, however, Instagram and YouTube showed higher rates of pro-China content than TikTok. By searching for four keywords—Uyghur, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Tiananmen, the researchers found that TikTok returned a higher percentage of positive, neutral, or irrelevant content related to human rights in China. ByteDance said its early guidelines were global and aimed at reducing online harassment and divisiveness when its platforms were still growing.
Doctors suggested that the cause may be a social one as users who consumed content showcasing various tics would sometimes develop tics of their own, akin to mass psychogenic illness. Many were also concerned with the app affecting users’ attention spans due to the short-form nature of the content. ByteDance responded by adding a kids-only mode to TikTok which blocks the upload of videos, the building of user profiles, direct messaging, and commenting on others’ videos, while still allowing the viewing and recording of content. In August 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok tracked Android user data, including MAC addresses and IMEIs, with a tactic in violation of Google’s policies. The company said its algorithm tracks interests not identity, and non-LGBT users also view such content.
According to The Times of Israel, antisemitism at the company was “rampant” after the October 7 attacks, allowing anti-Jewish and anti-Israel content to increase on the platform. With reports that Palestinians resorted to TikTok for promoting their cause after platforms like Facebook and Twitter blocked their content, Israeli analyst Yoni Ben-Menachem called the app a “tool of dangerous influence” inciting violence against Israelis. In December 2022, with the United States experiencing a shortage as well, it was reported that the huge increase in demand for the medicine was caused by a weight loss trend on TikTok, where videos about the drug exceeded 360 million views.
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In October 2022, TikTok was reported to be planning an expansion into the e-commerce market in the US, following the launch of TikTok Shop in the United Kingdom. In May 2021, TikTok appointed Shou Zi Chew as their new CEO who assumed the position from interim CEO Vanessa Pappas, following the resignation of Kevin A. Mayer on 27 August 2020. In the United States, Jimmy Fallon, Tony Hawk, and other celebrities began using the app in 2018.
It covers the “top 4% of all videos on TikTok” and is only available to creators with more than 100,000 followers. In October 2021, TikTok launched a test feature that allows users to directly tip certain creators. Private content remains visible to TikTok but is blocked from TikTok users who the account holder has not authorized to view their content. TikTok’s algorithm leverages this insight to present similar content, creating an environment that users often find hard to disengage from. While typical platforms focus on active user actions like likes, clicks, or follows, TikTok monitors a wider array of behaviors during video viewing.
TikTok said that the tracking method suggested by the report would not be feasible because precise GPS information is not collected by the platform. In October 2022, Forbes reported that a team at ByteDance planned to surveil certain US citizens for undisclosed reasons. A third party will oversee the cybersecurity policies, data flows, and personnel access independently of TikTok. Another said TikTok had to employ better data collection practices than Meta or Google due to the scrutiny it received. TikTok responded by saying that Project Texas already is a re-engineering of the app and that the former employee left in 2022 before the project specifications were finalized. In March 2023, a former employee of the company said Project Texas did not go far enough and that a complete “re-engineering” would be needed.
- In April 2025, the Ireland DPC fined TikTok over €500 million for illegally sending European user data to China.
- TikTok tends to appeal to younger users, as 41% of its users are between the ages of 16 and 24.
- Content promoting cosmetic surgery is popular on TikTok and has spawned several viral trends on the platform.
- TikTok uses popular influencers to encourage viewers to stop using the app and take a break.
- The US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia reportedly subpoenaed information from ByteDance regarding its surveillance of journalists on TikTok.
This is a concern as many of TikTok’s audience are younger children, whose brains are still developing. TikTok uses popular influencers to encourage viewers to stop using the app and take a break. Vox noted in 2018 that bullies and trolls were relatively rare on TikTok compared to other platforms. In December 2023, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner announced an inquiry into TikTok’s data harvesting of Australian citizens amid allegations that it contravened Australian privacy law.
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In June 2022, TikTok introduced the ability to set a maximum uninterrupted screen time allowance, after which the app blocks off the ability to navigate the feed. Insomnia is considered a strong mediator between screen media time and mental health symptoms which implies that engaging in screen time pushes out adequate sleep and leads to decreased mental health. Their short attention spans posed a challenge for TikTok to pivot towards longer content formats.
Wegovy, a drug that has been specifically approved for treating obesity, also became popular on the platform after Elon Musk credited it for helping him lose weight. A 2025 meta-analysis found that use of TikTok was correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression, with stronger links in females and users under 24 years old. Some users were able to circumvent TikTok filters by writing in code or using unconventional spelling. Daily hours of entertainment screen media (Social Medias) may displace healthy behaviors such as socializing face to face, chores, hobbies, homework, family meals time, exercise, and sufficient sleep. A trend making fun of autism eventually created a huge backlash, even on the platform itself, and the company ended up removing the hashtag altogether. In February 2024, the European Commission launched an investigation into TikTok for potential violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA), involving content aiming at children and advertising transparency.
