In January 2020, Check Point Research discovered a vulnerability through which a hacker could spoof TikTok’s official SMS messages and replace them with malicious links to gain access to user accounts. TikTok has faced criticism for transferring European user data to servers in the United States. A data scientist said U.S. user data were emailed to ByteDance workers in China to identify viewer interests. It would also digitally sign software code, approve updates, and oversee content moderation and recommendation. A 2024 unclassified threat assessment by the Director of National Intelligence said “TikTok accounts run by a Chinese propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates” during the 2022 United States elections. Whether similar information will remain exempt from being treated as “protected user data” is being negotiated with Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
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. Civil society groups warn that these apps push users down “rabbit holes” and then surround them in an “information cocoon.” The company will no longer send push notifications after 9 pm to users aged between 13 and 15.
U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Sponsored content is not as prevalent on the platform as it is on other social media apps, but brands and influencers still can make as much as they would if not more in comparison to other platforms. Furthermore, The Wall Street Journal in 2021 highlighted its superiority over other social media platforms in understanding users’ preferences and emotions. The mobile app allows users to create short videos, which often feature music in the background and can be sped up, slowed down, or edited with a filter. Since its launch, TikTok has become one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, using recommendation algorithms https://chickenroadapp.in/ to connect content creators and influencers with new audiences.
It works with Common Sense Networks to check for safety and age appropriateness and with the Poynter Institute for reliability of information. In March 2023, TikTok introduced a dedicated feed for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content. Creators who posted saying that they would not be changing their content, such as Green, were met with significant criticism.
Competition with other platforms
The Ministry of Education (Taiwan) has warned against the harmful impact of TikTok and related app RedNote on body image and ensuing self harm related to weight loss especially in teenagers. As of March 2025update, strong scientific understanding of TikTok’s effects on user’s mental health “remains elusive”. In 2021, the platform revealed that it will be introducing a feature that will prevent teenagers from receiving notifications past their bedtime. Additionally, the app features a dashboard with statistics on how often the app is opened, how much time is spent browsing it and when the browsing occurs.
Underage users
In August 2022, software engineer and security researcher Felix Krause found that in-app browsers from TikTok and other platforms contained codes for keylogger functionality but did not have the means to further investigate whether any data was tracked or recorded. The data included IP addresses, which can be used to approximate a user’s location. A new subsidiary, TikTok U.S. Data Security Inc. (USDS), was created to manage user data, software code, back-end systems, and content moderation. In response to security concerns of the United States government, TikTok has been working to silo privileged user data within the United States under oversight from the U.S. government or a third party such as Oracle.
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. In February 2022, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton initiated an investigation into TikTok for alleged violations of children’s privacy and facilitation of human trafficking. 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 U.S. 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.
On 7 March 2025, the shutdown was officially enacted after the Albanian Cabinet cited concerns over the app’s role in promoting violence and bullying among children. A Meta spokesperson defended the effort, saying that all platforms, including TikTok, should face equal scrutiny. An investigation in 2025 found that TikTok was profiting from sexual livestreams in Kenya involving minors, with teenagers as young as 15 using the platform to solicit explicit content. The Guardian website removed the letter after displaying it for more than 20 years, and TikTok began issuing takedowns of videos featuring the letter. U.S. lawmakers wanting to ban TikTok accused the platform of pushing pro-Hamas and pro-Palestine content. Several former employees of the company have claimed of poor workplace conditions, including the start of the workweek on Sunday to cooperate with Chinese timezones and excessive workload.
According to sources for The Wall Street Journal, the personnel move led to concerns from some TikTok employees and was reported to the office of U.S. In July 2023, Iranian Mehr News Agency reported “experts from Douyin” will meet Iranian business in Tehran to enable Iranian exports to China. It was also the most-downloaded app on Apple’s App Store in 2018 and 2019, surpassing Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. TikTok was downloaded over 104 million times on Apple’s App Store during the first half of 2018, according to data provided to CNBC by Sensor Tower. The day before the impending ban, California-based conversational search engine company Perplexity AI submitted a bid for a merger with TikTok US. In January 2025, Chinese officials began preliminary talks about potentially selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Elon Musk if the app faced an impending ban due to national security concerns.
Women in Kenya reported earning money through TikTok Lives, where coded sexual slang and emoji gifts facilitated transactions, with explicit content often delivered via other platforms. Many of the TikTok videos covering the letter were critical of bin Laden, and media coverage had exaggerated its significance while elevating the virality of the letter. In November 2023, Osama bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to the American people” went viral on TikTok and other social media. The company stated it banned praising Hamas and removed more than 775,000 videos and 14,000 livestreams.
- In August 2022, software engineer and security researcher Felix Krause found that in-app browsers from TikTok and other platforms contained codes for keylogger functionality but did not have the means to further investigate whether any data was tracked or recorded.
- Another TikTok trend known as the Kia Challenge involves users stealing certain models of Kia and Hyundai cars manufactured without immobilizers, which was a standard feature at the time, between 2010 and 2021.
- In June 2022, BuzzFeed News reported that leaked audio recordings of internal TikTok meetings reveal employees in China had access to overseas data, including a “master admin” who could see “everything”.
- 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 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.
The company’s survey reported that nearly 50% of social media users find it stressful to watch a video longer than a minute and a third of users watch videos at double speed. Musical.ly was a social media video platform that allowed users to create short lip-sync and comedy videos, initially released in August 2014. Numerous social media users, including Americans, expressed their opposition to U.S. foreign policy by sharing the resurfaced copies of the letter and its contents. To create a music video with the app, users can choose background music from a wide variety of music genres, edit with a filter and record a 15-second video with speed adjustments before uploading it to share with others on TikTok or other social platforms. In October 2021, following the 2021 Facebook leak and controversies about social media ethics, a bipartisan group of United States lawmakers also pressed TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat on questions of data privacy and moderation for age-appropriate content.
App support
They also reported that facilities that offered these surgeries were also posting about them on TikTok. In 2020, Charli D’Amelio, the most-followed person on TikTok at the time, also made a #NoseJobCheck video to show the results of her surgery to repair a broken nose. In 2021, it was reported that a trend known as the #NoseJobCheck trend was going viral on TikTok.
- They have also labeled a potential ban on the app an assault on freedom of speech, including Republican congressmen Rand Paul and Thomas Massie.
- In the article, it was noted that plastic surgeons were some of the earliest adopters of social media in the medical field and many had been recognized as influencers on the platform.
- In March 2024, the Italian Competition Authority fined TikTok €10 million for not protecting underage users adequately from harmful content such as the “French scar” challenge, which left heavy pinch marks on a person’s cheeks.
- One female worker complained that the company did not allow her adequate time to change her feminine hygiene product because of back-to-back meetings.
Privacy and security concerns
Content is curated by TikTok’s artificial intelligence depending on the content a user liked, interacted with, or searched. On 18 April 2024, Notes first released to users in Canada and Australia for limited testing. A Meta spokesperson said that all platforms, including TikTok, should face scrutiny. Republican Party—to coordinate lobbying and media campaigns against TikTok and portray it as “a danger to American children and society”.
Software code
Comment sections of “sexy” videos, such as young girls dancing in revealing clothes, were found to contain requests for nude pictures. In March 2023, TikTok announced default screen time limits for users under the age of 18. The differences between Douyin and TikTok have led some U.S. politicians and commentators to accuse the company or the Chinese government of malicious intent.
A TikTok spokesperson reiterated the platform’s efforts to countering “violent” and “hateful” organizations’ content and cooperating with police. They have also labeled a potential ban on the app an assault on freedom of speech, including Republican congressmen Rand Paul and Thomas Massie. State bans only affect government employees and do not prohibit civilians from having or using the app on their personal devices. On 30 December 2022, President Joe Biden signed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, prohibiting the use of the app on devices owned by the federal government, with some exceptions. Recruiters had been using the app to help fill quotas, and some continue to maintain a level of engagement through their personal accounts. On 6 November 2024, Canada ordered TikTok to shut down its offices and subsidiary company (TikTok Technology Canada, Inc.) in the country due to national security concerns, but access to the app was not banned.
Viral trends
The block only lifts after the app is exited and left unused for a set period of time. 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. This is a concern as many of TikTok’s audience are younger children, whose brains are still developing.
Graphic content
In response to the exposé, Kenya’s Communications Authority (CA) launched a formal inquiry, directing TikTok to remove all sexual content involving minors and submit a detailed plan to strengthen its moderation and child protection systems. Reporting in The Washington Post suggested that the virality of the letter had been limited prior to media coverage, having never trended on TikTok. TikTok was also accused by Malaysia’s minister of communications, Fahmi Fadzil of suppressing pro-Palestinian content. The Jewish Federations of North America expressed support for TikTok to be banned, while Israel’s critics denounced the “criminalisation of pro-Palestinian voices,” including on TikTok, which has been used to condemn “Israel’s atrocities”, according to The New Arab. TikTok said that a significant proportion of its userbase comes from non-US regions such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia and that hashtags should not be cherry-picked due to differences in the number of views per post and the age of a post or tag. Prominent Jewish individuals such as Sacha Baron Cohen, Debra Messing, Amy Schumer, and TikTok creator Miriam Ezagui raised the issue with Adam Presser, TikTok’s head of operations, and Seth Melnick, its global head of user operations, both also Jewish.