Tiktok is an app taking over the world one video at a time. Launched by Bytedance in 2016, the app grew to the fame that it is now in 2018. Initially, Bytedance bought the American social media app Musical.ly for $1 billion in November 2017 and then merged it with their app Tiktok. In this app, people can take quick videos of them singing, dancing, or coming up with their own unique content. Just this year, Tiktok has reached over one billion downloads and has reached number one on the top charts in the App Store. Most popular with teens and young adults, many people have become famous through the app such as Jacob Sartorius, Baby Ariel, and Mackenzie Ziegler.
Although TikTok has become a worldwide hit, recently, lawmakers believe the app poses a threat to its U.S. citizens. Since early October, lawmakers have been pushing for a national security review of the app. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, never reviewed the transaction between Bytedance and Musical.ly in 2017 for national security risk. Since the clearance was never made, the U.S. security panel is now inspecting various concerns. If they decide that Musical.ly must be sold back to its original owner, this could mean the end of TikTok in the United States and a loss of 100 million users for the app.
Senior Nicolas Quagliariello is just one of the millions of users on Tiktok. Quagliariello recently began making videos on the app. He mentioned, “I enjoy making videos because they get me out of my comfort zone and allow me to express myself. TikTok is honestly a place where people can go to express themselves. No one has a barrier, so they don’t feel like they’re getting made fun of. I don’t think the app should be taken down in the U.S. If they get rid of it, it repeats Vine’s history for no reason. TikTok is fun and needs to be kept.”
Whether or not the U.S. decides to take TikTok down, for now, the app will continue to be one of the most used apps. Time will tell whether this app will soon come to an end.
