Graphic Truth: The world is crazy for TikTok

The US is opening a national security investigation into TikTok, the wildly popular short-form lip-syncing and music video app that already has more than 500 million users. Why? Because TikTok is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance. Lawmakers are worried about how that company handles the data it gathers on its 26 million US-based users, most of whom are under 25 years old. All those users produce reams of valuable personal data that Bytedance can use to improve its AI algorithms, but the Chinese government's broader AI and data ambitions have also become a national security concern for US spooks. As the alarm bells sound in Washington over yet another Chinese tech company, here's a look at where TikTok is used most, and by whom.

More from GZERO Media

US President Donald J. Trump signs executive orders in the Cabinet Room of the White House on March 25, 2025.

Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that aims to secure elections by requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. The order aims to guard against illegal immigrants voting in elections and would require all ballots to be received by Election Day.

US President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 10, 2025.
REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Wednesday’s tariff respite is firmly in the rearview mirror, as China announced on Friday it was raising its duty on US imports to an astronomical 125%, taking effect Saturday.

A Zimbabwean farmer addresses a meeting of white commercial farmers in the capital Harare, at one of a series of meetings that led to a 2020 accord on compensation for white forced off of their lands in 2000-2001.
REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo