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Tik tok was created in September 2016 by a man named of Zhang Yiming. Zhang Yiming owns a company based out of China by the name of ByteDance -
Bytedance buys Musical.ly for 1 billion dollars to be merged with TikTok not much later -
Lil Nas X drops a country -trap song called, “Old town Road” on Tik tok. The song was such a success it was the 1 spot top 100 billboard for a record breaking 17 weeks. Artist start to see TikTok as a key way to reach their fans. -
The U.S government begins to raise alarms about TikTok’s influence. U.S government places a national security probe into TikTok.
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U.S pentagon recommends that all U.S military phones delete TikTok immediately and is effectively banned in January.
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India bans TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps in response to a border clash with China.
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Trump issues an executive order banning American companies from any “transaction” with ByteDance and its subsidiaries, including TikTok. TikTok is insulted by this and responds with a lawsuit for alleged violation of due process in executive orders.
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Newly sworn-in President Joe Biden postpones the legal cases involving Trump’s plan to ban TikTok, effectively bringing them to a halt.
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Wall Street Journal report finds TikTok algorithms can flood teens with a torrent of harmful material such as videos recommending extreme dieting, a form of eating disorder.
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TikTok announces new rules to deter the spread of harmful information to teen and kids.
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Buzzfeed finds and reports that China based Bytedance employees have accessed the nonpublic information of TikTok users repeatedly. TikTok responded vaguely by saying its commitment is to security, which doesn’t directly address the Buzzfeed reports.
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FBI director Christopher Wray says security concerns that include that Chinese officials can manipulate the apps recommended algorithm for influence operations.
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TikTok is joined by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
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A federal appeals court panel unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the U.S. The panel of judges rebuffed the company’s challenge of the statute, which it argued had ran afoul of the First Amendment.
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TikTok users in the United States were prevented from watching videos on the popular social media platform just hours before a federal ban was set to take effect. “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S.,” a message in the app said. “Unfortunately that means you can’t use TikTok for now.” The company’s app was also removed from prominent app stores, including the ones operated by Apple and Google, while its website told users that the short-form video platform was no longer of use