April Kato
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.
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.