TikTok Wikipedia

In February 2023, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, along with its counterparts in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec, launched an investigation into TikTok's data collection practices. In 2022, Turkey's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) initiated a probe into TikTok in relation to millions of dollars in fund transfers involving TikTok accounts that were suspected of money laundering or terrorism financing. He claimed the evidence may prove the company's involvement in "human smuggling, sex trafficking and drug trafficking". 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.
On 19 July 2023, TikTok Music was expanded for select users in Australia, Mexico and Singapore. However, a few days later, users on Twitter discovered that the software uses code from the open-source OBS Studio. Accounts of users that are of age, have at least 100,000 followers and agree to the terms can activate a "Tip" button on their profile, which allows followers to tip any amount, starting from $1. The app expanded its parental controls feature called "Family Pairing" in September 2020 to provide parents and guardians with educational resources to slotrize casino no deposit bonus understand what children on TikTok are exposed to. TikTok announced a "family safety mode" in February 2020 for parents to be able to control their children's presence on the app. Users also can set specific videos to either "public", "friends only", or "private" regardless if the account is private or not.
Douyin includes an in-video search feature that can search by people's faces for more videos of them, along with other features such as buying, booking hotels, and making geo-tagged reviews. While TikTok and Douyin share a similar user interface, the platforms operate separately. TikTok has come under scrutiny due to data privacy violations, mental health concerns, misinformation, offensive content, and its role during the Gaza war.

Musica XM-Offline Music Player

If over 18, the user's followers can send virtual "gifts" that can be later exchanged for money. The Wall Street Journal reported that Silicon Valley executives met with U.S. lawmakers to build an "anti-China alliance" before TikTok CEO's congressional hearing in March 2023. In March 2022, The Washington Post reported that Facebook's owner Meta Platforms paid Targeted Victory—a consulting firm backed by supporters of the U.S. In March 2024, The Information reported that it is an open secret among investors that TikTok loses billions of dollars annually. 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.

Restrictions and bans

According to an investigation published in September 2025 by Moldovan newspaper Ziarul de Gardă, before the 2025 Moldovan parliamentary election, hundreds of accounts with false identities were created to spread Russian propaganda in TikTok and Facebook. There were also multiple conspiracy theories that the government is involved with the spread of the pandemic. In January 2020, left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America said that TikTok hosted misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic despite a recent policy against misinformation. The platform has also been used to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, such as clips from Plandemic. The video has been put on TikTok's blacklist, which detects it before being uploaded. In June 2021, TikTok made an apology after a shock video, showing a girl dancing which then cuts to a graphic scene of a man being beheaded by a saw, went viral.

UK Information Commissioner's Office

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• TikTok said it does not give information to China’s government and “U.S. user data” is stored within the country with backups in Singapore.
• The whistleblower claimed in a sworn court statement that his father in mainland China had been detained by the authorities in retaliation for his speaking to the media about alleged censorship by TikTok.

The article published stats about the most popular plastic surgeons on TikTok up to February 2021 and at the time, five different plastic surgeons had surpassed 1 million followers on the platform. Content promoting cosmetic surgery is popular on TikTok and has spawned several viral trends on the platform. Women's apparel can roughly be divided into petite, straight, and plus sizes, leaving gaps in between. "Midsize" fashion gained greater exposure on TikTok after many creators opened up about not able to find clothing sizes that fit them well. These hashtags have amassed 4.6 million and 4.5 million posts, respectively, according to the platform. Food-related content on TikTok is often categorized under the hashtags #TikTokFood and #FoodTok.

Features

• In May 2021, TikTok appointed Shou Zi Chew as their new CEO who assumed the position from interim CEO Vanessa Pappas, following the resignation of Kevin A. Mayer on 27 August 2020.
• A new subsidiary, TikTok U.S. Data Security Inc. (USDS), was created to manage user data, software code, back-end systems, and content moderation.
• TikTok responded by saying that Project Texas already is a re-engineering of the app and that the former employee left in 2022 before the project specifications were finalized.
• The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia reportedly subpoenaed information from ByteDance regarding its surveillance of journalists on TikTok.
• While TikTok and Douyin share a similar user interface, the platforms operate separately.
• There is insufficient public evidence to show that American user data has been accessed by or shared with the PRC government, with some claims reportedly exaggerated.

TikTok food trends refer to popular recipes and food-related fads on the social media platform TikTok. Duets, a feature that allows users to add their own video to an existing video with the original content's audio, have sparked many of these trends. In December 2021, TikTok started beta-testing Live Studio, a streaming software that would let users broadcast applications open on their computers, including games. Users can choose whether any other user, or only their "friends", may interact with them through the app via comments, messages, or "react" or "duet" videos. The app's "react" feature allows users to film their reaction to a specific video, over which it is placed in a small window that is movable around the screen.

On 22 January 2021, the Italian Data Protection Authority demanded that TikTok temporarily suspend Italian users whose age could not be established. TikTok itself forbids direct messaging of videos and photos, which meant follow-up interactions, if any, would have to take place in some other form. Comment sections of "sexy" videos, such as young girls dancing in revealing clothes, were found to contain requests for nude pictures.
Jim Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said TikTok would have no right to appeal requests for data made by the Chinese government. TikTok is also able to track information about web users even if they are not users of the TikTok app. Other information collected includes users inferred interests based on the content they view as well as content created by users. TikTok's privacy policy lists that the app collects usage information, IP addresses, a user's mobile carrier, unique device identifiers, keystroke patterns, and location data, among other data.

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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 to connect content creators and influencers with new audiences. 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.
In 2023, a trend emerged where streamers acted as if they were video-game characters following prompts from their viewers. TikTok has taken measures to remove and prevent access to content displaying the trend. The song rose to popularity when musician Daniel Mertzlufft composed a backing track to the song. In 2020, Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" was used in a skating video and a recreation by Mick Fleetwood. Classic stars are able to connect with younger audiences born decades after a musician's first debut and across traditional genres.
The popularity of TikTok has allowed viral trends in food, fashion, and music to take off and increase the platform's cultural impact worldwide. The developer, TikTok Ltd., indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. Unlock filters, effects, and AR objects to take your videos to the next level. You'll find a variety of videos from Food and Fashion to Sports and DIY – and everything in between. TikTok offers you real, interesting, and fun videos that will make your day.