Headlines from 2023 at TikTok:
- TikTok faced a potential ban in the US and its CEO Shou Zi Chew attended a congressional hearing in March.
- It reported more than 1.5 billion MAUs worldwide.
- It was the most downloaded app in Q1.
TikTok was the most downloaded app worldwide in Q1, which makes sense given it has more than 1.5 billion MAUs. The short-form video platform revealed in February it has more than 150 million users in Europe.
Arguably the biggest news about TikTok, which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, was it being potentially banned in the US. In March, CEO Shou Zi Chew attended a congressional hearing about its relationship with China and how it uses data. The state of Montana passed a law to ban the platform from personal devices – a judge blocked this because it would violate people’s free speech rights.
Throughout the year, TikTok doubled down on its audio offerings. In November, it rolled out an “add to music app” tool and launched dedicated account tags for artists. Then December, its Ticketmaster partnership arrived in the UK, allowing artists to sell tickets directly in the app.
TikTok Shop continued to gain traction. In August, the shopping tool introduced Fulfilled by TikTok in the UK, which is a logistics programme. It also launched in the US in September.
By Caroline Edwards, news and features writer for CORQ.
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