A Timeline of TikTok

Chinese product designer Alex Zhu launches Musically

ByteDance launches Douyin, which is regarded by many as a Musical.ly clone. It launches Douyin’s overseas version TikTok later that year.

TikTok takes off in the United States: TikTok merges with Musical.ly and and launches in the U.S., where it quickly becomes popular, the first social media app from a Chinese tech company to achieve that level of success there. But at the same time, its ownership leads to questions about national security and censorship, against the backdrop of the U.S.-China tariff wars and increased scrutiny of Chinese tech companies (including Huawei and ZTE) under the Trump administration.

Tensions escalate between the U.S. government and TikTok, with a federal executive order banning “transactions” with ByteDance in 45 days, or on September 20. (link). TikTok says the order was “issued without any due process” and would risk “undermining global businesses’ trust in the United States’ commitment to the rule of law.” (link)

TikTok is the most highly engaged social media app in the U.S., with 100 million users. This year, ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is reportedly working on a public stock offering, and the company has been privately valued at close to $250 billion. In the U.S., TikTok has been making inroads with brands like Ocean Spray, Arby’s, McDonald’s, Gatorade and the National Football League.