PH among most TikTok-crazed countries in the world

by Cristina eloisa BaClig Inquirer.net

MANILA — Amid the controversies and criticisms surrounding the partly Chinese-owned app TikTok, the platform’s audience shares continue to skyrocket in the Philippines, among the top countries where people seeking instant fame have been gobbling up the technology like crazy. TikTok, a short-form video hosting service app, is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, which also owns the app’s Chinese counterpart, Douyin.

From its initial release in 2016, the app’s global popularity massively grew, with over 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide as of October 2020 and an estimated 1 billion global monthly active users based on data as of September 2021.

Despite TikTok’s global success—which placed 6th in DataReportal’s ranking of the world’s most “active” social media platforms—the app now faces a slew of controversies due to concerns from online data privacy to “potential national security threat.” all government-issued devices)

In a five-hour-long congressional hearing last March 23, U.S. lawmakers grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew over the potential Chinese influence over the platform and the app’s damaging impact on children’s mental health.

• U.S. (more than 50 states have banned TikTok from government devices)

• Canada (app is banned on all government-issued devices)

• European Union (lawmakers and staff were recommended to remove the app from their personal devices)

• Pakistan (temporary ban since October 2020)

• Afghanistan

PH adults hooked on TikTok these figures suggest,” it added. Analysis of the available global user statistics showed that the Philippines is among the top 8 countries with the estimated highest number of TikTok users aged 18+ in 2023. TikTok’s ad audience can reach around 43.4 million Filipino adults who use the app—around 37.3 percent of the country’s population is among the app’s ad audience, according to an analysis by DataReportal.