News

History of global social media platform: TikTok’s major moments

Liv Weaver, Asst. Editor-in-Chief, Workflow • January 28, 2025

TikTok’s continuance is now unclear as it wavers between shut down and constancy in the U.S. This article reviewed the major events in the history of TikTok in the form of a timeline.

With a history of nearly a decade, and around one billion active monthly users under its belt, TikTok was center stage in entertainment on a global scale. However, with political controversy and national security use within the application constantly headlining the news as of recent, it is a question as to whether or not the Chinese-founded app and its company, ByteDance, will soon have any prevalence within the U.S.

Keeping in mind the many lives that may change as a result of a potential ban on TikTok — content consumer and influencers alike — one must first understand the history of the modern social media app in order to comprehend the consequences that may be determined as a result of its journey breaching foreign territory. This article will lay out the major moments within the application’s history, all leading up to current events happening just eight days ago:

March 2012: Chinese company ByteDance is founded by Zhang Yimin.

July 2014: Chinese entrepreneur Alex Zhu starts up Musical.ly, a public forum where individuals lip-sync to music.

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2016: ByteDance launches Douyin, a platform with a focus on music mixed into short-form videos which gains traction among users to launch an app for foreign users, sparking the creation of TikTok.

2017: ByteDance buys out Musical.ly, merging the platform with TikTok.

February 2019: Lil Nas X performs “Old Town Road” on TikTok, putting a focus on the app to other musical artists and influencers. At the same time, TikTok pays federal charges of $5.7 million for violating U.S. child privacy laws.

October 2019: U.S. politicians call for federal investigations of TikTok’s merging with Musical.ly. Investigations begin in November.

December 2019: TikTok becomes the second most downloaded app worldwide. It is also required to be removed from all military-owned devices, personal and government-issued.

May 2020: ByteDance hires former Disney executive Kevin Mayer as CEO of TikTok in order to improve relations with the U.S. Mayer resigns three months later.

July 2020: President Donald Trump states he may ban the app because of China’s “handling of the coronavirus.”

August 2020: Trump issues executive order that American companies may not conduct business with ByteDance. ByteDance sues Trump in the name of due process.

April 2022: TikTok became the most downloaded app in the world.

March 2023: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is questioned by U.S. legislators at a six-hour congressional hearing.

April 2024: After approval by Congress, Biden signs the “sell-or-ban bill,” requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company, or else it will be banned nationwide. TikTok promptly sued the U.S. government for unconstitutionality.

Jan. 15, 2025: The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the law to ban the app unless it is sold to an American company, effective Jan. 19.

Jan. 19, 2025: 12 hours post-shut down, TikTok displays a message claiming they will work alongside Trump to negotiate terms for app usage within the U.S.Jan. 20, 2025: Trump issues an executive order for the ban on TikTok to be delayed by 75 days.

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About the Contributors

Liv Weaver, Asst. Editor-in-Chief, Workflow

Just like the speeding motorcycles that she appreciates by eye, Liv Weaver’s time on the nationally-recognized high school publication, the Falconer, is whizzing right by. Starting her journey on the newspaper as a staff writer in her sophomore year, Weaver has worked her way up the ladder, transitioning to the publication’s Copy Editor in her junior year, and then promoted again to Assistant Editor-in-Chief, Head of Workflow for her final stretch of high school. In her spare time (“spare” being the key word, as most of the time she tends to book up her schedule without any breaks), Weaver can be found reading the latest Abby Jimenez novel, analyzing Jake Tapper’s hot takes on the political state of the world on CNN, or fawning over cute cows on the internet. Although seemingly inevitable for Weaver to become a motorcycle-riding farmer by day and political romance author by night, Weaver’s aspirations actually belong elsewhere, either in the medical field as a psychiatrist, or as an event planner, a career that perfectly reflects much of her role on the Falconer this year. After high school, Weaver plans to stay on the West Coast, going to a college to start the next chapter of what will be in her wildly diverse autobiography.

April Kato, News Editor

In the same way her 13-year piano journey crescendo towards a finale, April Kato is intent on making her last year as a falcon and a staff on the Falconer a balance of memorable, accent-like events and legato-like relaxed moments. Joining the Falconer her junior year and being inspired by the wonderful community, Kato furthered her love for journalism by securing a position as news editor her senior year. This year, she hopes to take on more stories than she did last year, as her goal is time management and fighting the urge of procrastinating, all of which she fell captive to junior year. Outside of the newsroom, Kato enjoys quiet moments of reading at home and playing classical and modern music on her piano, a treasure passed down from her mother. On the weekends, she can be seen volunteering at a Japanese language school, drafting editorials for her internship at a local community journal or roaming Barnes & Noble. Throughout the years in high school Kato's interest for international relations and global topics has grown, linking to her hopes of pursuing such fields after graduation.