TikTok has lost its lawsuit against its designation as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The General Court of the European Union has dismissed the case.
By Corinna Visser
TikTok is not fundamentally different from other social networks – but it comes from China, which is why extra vigilance is needed, says Peter Schaar.
By Fabian Peltsch
TikTok is playing a role in the European election campaign, particularly when it comes to courting first-time voters. The AfD appears to be campaigning successfully on the social network. How big is TikTok's influence on the elections? And how else can parties reach young people?
By Table.Briefings
The US government is making progress with its plan to force ByteDance to divest itself of the US division of the TikTok app.
By Redaktion Table
The success of the controversial short video platform TikTok is attracting other parties. One driving idea: not to leave the platform and its young users to the AfD. But there are pitfalls.
By Falk Steiner
China criticizes the US crackdown on TikTok. A US bill could force TikTok's parent company ByteDance to sell the app.
By Michael Radunski
The Chinese app TikTok is popular all over the world. Read all the important and latest news from the China.Table editorial team.
TikTok is a short video app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It has more than one billion active users worldwide and is thus one of the best-known and most successful apps.
The app's concept revolves around uploading short videos of people dancing accompanied by voice-overs. The app is particularly popular among young people. It was developed by the Chinese company ByteDance. The company bought the app musical.ly in 2017 and combined both apps in one single application, whereupon TikTok became known in Germany.
TikTok is called Douyin in China (short for Douyin short video 抖音短视频 Dǒuyīn duǎnshìpín). However, not only the names but also the contents of the two apps differ.
While Douyin content is subject to censorship mechanisms by the Chinese government and is thus purely focused on entertainment, TikTok is the global version, supposedly without censoring politically sensitive content. The international version of the app is banned in China. However, censorship mechanisms have been discovered in TikTok as well. The app has been found to hide keywords, for example from the LGBTQIA+ community, which limits the reach of videos containing these terms.
During Donald Trump's administration, TikTok was blacklisted by the US. The reason for this was the accusation of the Chinese government exercising influence over the app. Although, the US did not end up banning the application, it was revealed shortly afterward that the Chinese government itself owns shares in the company. Thus, the possibility to exert pressure on the company by the Chinese government exists. Furthermore, due to the tech crackdown by Beijing, private tech companies like ByteDance must watch their image and comply with the demands of the Chinese government.
