If you’re over the age of 20, TikTok can be a bewildering experience. Fire up the app and you’ll be bombarded with a bottomless feed of short, inane and loud videos that play on a loop. But flick through a few videos and maybe, just maybe, you’ll start to see the appeal. It’s an endless feed of pranks, stunts, dancing and lightning-fast comedy skits – and about as intellectually healthy as injecting sugar directly into your bloodstream.
But love it or loathe it, one thing is clear: TikTok matters. It is currently thought to have around 800 million users – including 5 million Brits. Next year its British audience is forecast to double.
What makes it curious in the pantheon of social networks is its parentage. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, which have their roots in Silicon Valley, TikTok was designed and built in China. And now that relations between the West and China are fraying, like Huawei, TikTok is becoming a genuine cause for concern.
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