In other cases, however, Instagram and YouTube showed higher rates of pro-China content than TikTok. By searching for four keywords—Uyghur, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Tiananmen, the researchers found that TikTok returned a higher percentage of positive, neutral, or irrelevant content related to human rights in China. ByteDance said its early guidelines were global and aimed at reducing online harassment and divisiveness when its platforms were still growing.
In April 2024, TikTok users started receiving notifications that their current and future picture posts would be shown on a new app called TikTok Notes. Under the deal, the app will remain the same, and the algorithm will be adjusted over time to favor American topics for those users. The Financial Times reported that TikTok will launch a video gaming channel, but the report was denied in a statement to Digiday, with TikTok instead aiming to be a social hub for the gaming community. In July 2020, TikTok, excluding Douyin, reported close to 800 million monthly active users worldwide after less than four years of existence. In January 2019, TikTok allowed creators to embed merchandise sale links into their videos.
She noted that the company was potentially violating the GDPR which requires the company to provide different services and different protections for children. In July 2025, the DPC opened a new investigation into TikTok for unauthorized transfers of user data to China. In April 2025, the Ireland DPC fined TikTok over €500 million for illegally sending European user data to China. In September 2023, the DPC fined TikTok €345 million for violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) vis-à-vis the mishandling of children data.
Underage users
The consumption of alcohol, full or partial nudity, LGBT, and intersex contents were restricted even in places where they are legal. A more specific list banned criticisms against world leaders, including past and present ones from Russia, the United States, Japan, North and South Korea, India, Indonesia, and Turkey. However, some employees have abused it to promote their own accounts or those of their spouses, while others have felt that their guidelines leave too much room for discretion. The practice began as a way to grow and diversify content and influencers that were not automatically picked up by the recommendation algorithm. It works with Common Sense Networks to check for safety and age appropriateness and with the Poynter Institute for reliability of information.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that doctors experienced a surge in reported cases of tics, tied to an increasing number of TikTok videos from content creators with Tourette syndrome. Since 2021, it has been reported that accounts engaging with contents related to suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders were shown more similar videos. TikTok has previously worked to remove graphic content from its platform, including a suicide video that circulated in September 2020, which had appeared among the recommended clips of TikTok’s For You section.
Doctors suggested that the cause may be a social one as users who consumed content showcasing various tics would sometimes develop tics of their own, akin to mass psychogenic illness. Many were also concerned with the app affecting users’ attention spans due to the short-form nature of the content. ByteDance responded by adding a kids-only mode to TikTok which blocks the upload of videos, the building of user profiles, direct messaging, and commenting on others’ videos, while still allowing the viewing and recording of content. In August 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok tracked Android user data, including MAC addresses and IMEIs, with a tactic in violation of Google’s policies. The company said its algorithm tracks interests not identity, and non-LGBT users also view such content.
UK Information Commissioner’s Office
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 ruhtinas push notifications after 9 pm to users aged between 13 and 15. TikTok has also received criticism for enabling children to purchase coins which they can send to other users. TikTok executives and representatives have noted and made aware to advertisers on the platform that users have poor attention spans. Nonetheless, several users have reported cyberbullying via features such as Duet or React, which is used to interact with followers. 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 Roku App (Official)
TikTok said only a few individuals can approve heating in the US and the promoted videos take up less than 0.002% of user feeds. NBC reported that videos using the hashtags ‘#plasticsurgery’ and ‘#lipfiller’ had amassed a combined 26 billion views on the platform. TikTok content creators used a specific audio on their videos while showing how their noses looked before and after having their rhinoplasty surgeries. 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.
Product Personalization
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.
Influencers on the platform who earn money through engagement, such as likes and comments, are referred to as “meme machines”. As the platform has grown significantly over the past few years, it has allowed companies to advertise and rapidly reach their intended demographic through influencer marketing. The court cited TikTok’s negligence in failing to implement “necessary and adequate measures” to prevent the viral video challenges. On December 30, 2024, Venezuela’s Supreme Court fined TikTok $10 million over viral challenges that authorities say led to the deaths of three children.
This led many creators to stop creating new content which they were not already contractually obligated to create. In December 2022, it was reported that a cosmetic surgery procedure known as buccal fat removal was going viral on the platform. TikTok has banned the advertising of cosmetic surgeries on the platform but cosmetic surgeons are still able to reach large audiences using unpaid photo and video posts. In April 2022, NBC News reported that surgeons were giving influencers on the platform discounted or free cosmetic surgeries in order to advertise the procedures to their audiences. By January 2021, the hashtag #nosejob had accumulated 1.6 billion views, #nosejobcheck had accumulated 1 billion views, and the audio used in the #NoseJobCheck trend had been used in 120,000 videos. Realistic videos about how differently pieces of garment fit on a model compared to how they fit on a typical consumer resonated with many who had believed that they were alone in their struggle.
The growth of popularity and access to TikTok has contributed to a growth in popularity of digital feminist movements and discourse originating from the platform.
In April 2022, NBC News reported that surgeons were giving influencers on the platform discounted or free cosmetic surgeries in order to advertise the procedures to their audiences.
The developer, TikTok Ltd., indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below.
Realistic videos about how differently pieces of garment fit on a model compared to how they fit on a typical consumer resonated with many who had believed that they were alone in their struggle.
Daily hours of entertainment screen media (Social Medias) may displace healthy behaviors such as socializing face to face, chores, hobbies, homework, family meals time, exercise, and sufficient sleep.
The procedure involves surgically removing fat from the cheeks in order to give the face a slimmer and more chiseled appearance.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada
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 US 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 August 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok tracked Android user data, including MAC addresses and IMEIs, with a tactic in violation of Google’s policies.
In August 2024, the NCRI released a subsequent report based on user journey data from 24 accounts that they created across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
If over 18, the user’s followers can send virtual “gifts” that can be later exchanged for money.
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.
It was also the most-downloaded app on Apple’s App Store in 2018 and 2019, surpassing Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
However, as reported by The New York Times, these people often do not see themselves necessarily as film critics.
A viral TikTok trend known as “devious licks” involves students vandalizing or stealing school property and posting videos of the action on the platform.
Wegovy, a drug that has been specifically approved for treating obesity, also became popular on the platform after Elon Musk credited it for helping him lose weight. A 2025 meta-analysis found that use of TikTok was correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression, with stronger links in females and users under 24 years old. Some users were able to circumvent TikTok filters by writing in code or using unconventional spelling. Daily hours of entertainment screen media (Social Medias) may displace healthy behaviors such as socializing face to face, chores, hobbies, homework, family meals time, exercise, and sufficient sleep. A trend making fun of autism eventually created a huge backlash, even on the platform itself, and the company ended up removing the hashtag altogether. 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.
TikTok is THE destination for mobile videos. In early 2026, the United States and China approved a deal transferring operational control of TikTok’s US business to a joint venture led by Oracle and Silver Lake, following a 2024 US law requiring ByteDance to divest the platform over national security concerns. New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster praised the platform for taking a “socially-responsible stance” against gangs. A TikTok spokesperson reiterated the platform’s efforts to countering “violent” and “hateful” organizations’ content and cooperating with police.
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. As of 2021update, these individuals are considered Generation Z. Among these TikTok users, 90% said they used the app daily. TikTok tends to appeal to younger users, as 41% of its users are between the ages of 16 and 24. TikTok said that it had removed 204 accounts for swaying public opinion about the war while obscuring their origins and that its fact checkers had removed 41,191 videos for violating its misinformation policies. In November 2023, Singaporean Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam applied for court orders requiring TikTok to provide information on the identity of three users that he accuses of spreading false and defamatory information about him.
