US Supreme Court vs TikTok: What’s Really at Stake?

TikTok's explosive growth from a specialized video app to a major force in social media worldwide represents one of the biggest changes in digital entertainment since social media's inception.

From grandmothers giving cooking advice to teenage dancers, TikTok has shown an unheard-of capacity to turn regular people into international celebrities very instantly, upending the conventional route to fame.

Chinese internet company ByteDance first introduced Douyin for the Chinese market in 2016. The worldwide version, TikTok, was made available in 2017.

A year later, it merged with the lip-synching app Musical.ly, which gave it tremendous momentum.

 Secret sauce 

The app's creative recommendation algorithm was the key to its quick growth.

TikTok's "For You" tab presented content based on watching preferences, engagement trends, and advanced content analysis, in contrast to other social media platforms that mostly displayed content from accounts viewers previously followed.

This implies that if the computer finds a video to be sufficiently compelling, it can reach millions of viewers.
Another factor that has kept users interested is the short-form video style.

This was first restricted to 15-second uploads, but it was later extended to support 10-minute films. Currently, tests are being conducted for uploads up to 60 minutes in duration.

TikTok's hallmark feature, which makes it simple to make, edit, and share videos, immediately won over Gen Z users before expanding to other groups.

During the coronavirus pandemic, when everyone was cooped up at home and in need of amusement and social interaction, its popularity only increased.

TikTok had more than one billion active users globally by 2021. Since its inception, it has been downloaded over three billion times.

The platform has become a potent cultural catalyst and commercial tool.

Companies are using TikTok more and more for advertising, and content producers, often known as influencers, can make money off of their work.

TikTok's ability to garner widespread attention hasn't been without controversy, primarily due to its Chinese ownership and the inherent unpredictability of the website.

Governments throughout the world, especially in the US, have been closely monitoring the platform due to worries about data privacy and possible connections to the Chinese government, including charges of espionage and propaganda.

Citing national security concerns, India permanently banned TikTok and other Chinese apps in 2020.

In Romania, authorities think that far-right contender Calin Georgescu gained the lead in the country's first round of the presidential election because to an influence campaign coordinated from Moscow using platforms like TikTok.

The European Commission has launched an investigation into TikTok's recommendation systems, and the country's Constitutional Court canceled the vote between the two rounds, forcing it to be rerun.

Fears for teenagers

Concerns have been raised in other jurisdictions regarding TikTok's possible impact on minors, with claims that it confines children to echo chambers and lacks anything that is unlawful, violent, or pornographic.

Late last year, Australia enacted one of the most stringent social media bans in the world, prohibiting any under-16s from using it.

A group of families in France are suing TikTok, claiming the platform exposed their kids to material that might have inspired them to end their lives.

TikTok last year withdrew a programme in its TikTok Lite app that rewarded users based on how much time they spent using it.

The EU Commission had opened a probe after backlash to the app’s launch in France and Spain, saying it saw potential “very addictive consequences”.

The first government of Donald Trump tried to compel TikTok to sell its US operations to American businesses.

In the US, TikTok now has until January 19 to either drop its Chinese ownership or be removed from app stores.

Since then, as he looks for a different answer, Trump has requested the Supreme Court to postpone the deadline.