By Meghna Sharma Yes, TikTok is a Chinese company. It is a social media and short-form online video platform owned by ByteDance, a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Beijing, China. TikTok specialises in short-form videos, allowing users to create, watch and share content, which can range in duration from 3 seconds to 60 minutes. The platform integrates a number of features, including effects, lip-syncing and algorithmic recommendations. TikTok’s revenue model primarily features advertising, in-app purchases and e-commerce.
| Details | Info |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Founder | Zhang Yiming |
| Headquarters | Haidian, Beijing, China |
| CEO | Shou Zi Chew |
| Sector | Social Media |
Company History
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance was founded in the year 2012 by Zhang Yiming as a news aggregator. In September 2016, ByteDance launched Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. It reached 100 million users within a year, with more than 1 billion videos viewed each day.
ByteDance launched TikTok as a separate global app in September 2017. It was based on the same technology stack as Douyin but with different branding and servers. In November 2017, ByteDance acquired Musical.ly which had around 60 million users. Musical.ly was merged with TikTok in August 2018. Consequently, all the content and users of Musical.ly were migrated to TikTok. In January 2018, TikTok became the most downloaded app on App Store in many countries. By the year 2019, it had reached 1 billion downloads.
TikTok was permanently banned in India in June 2020 as a part of a wider crackdown against Chinese apps by the Indian government. Trump administration of the United States issued executive orders to ban TikTok in the same year. In the year 2022, TikTok announced Project Texas to route user data of US citizens to Oracle servers.
TikTok ventured into e-commerce with the launch of TikTok Shop in Southeast Asia, United Kingdom and United States in the year 2022.
Current Status
TikTok has an active monthly user base of over 1.7 billion. It is operating in most major markets like US, UK and Europe, even though the ban in India remains in force. TikTok is available for download on both Play Store and App Store for Android and iOS devices respectively.
TikTok’s core features like video creation, live streaming and algorithmic feeds remain unchanged. Latest updates include AI tools and TikTok Shop expansions. Valuation of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, reached $480 billion in November 2025.
Future Outlook
TikTok faces a potential app removal and service degradation in the United States if it is not able to sell its US operations by the January 2026 deadline. The app’s ad revenues are projected to hit $60 billion by 2026, driven by e-commerce.
ByteDance is expected to invest in AI features on the TikTok app, including personalised AR effects.