The Chinese-owned app confirmed the number ahead of testimony from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew
TikTok reported today (20) that the short video sharing app now has 150 million monthly active users in the United States, up from the 100 million it claimed to have in 2020.
The Chinese-owned app confirmed the number ahead of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony last Thursday (16) before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Last Friday (17), six more US senators backed a bipartisan bill to give US President Joe Biden new powers to ban TikTok on national security grounds.
Last week, TikTok said the Biden administration had required its Chinese owners to divest their stake in the app or it could face a US ban.
The app faces mounting pressure from the Biden administration and lawmakers, including calls to ban the app from many in Congress who fear that user data in the US could be passed on to the government in China.
TikTok said in September 2021 that globally it had over 1 billion monthly users.
US Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, who is co-sponsoring the bill to give the Biden administration more powers to ban TikTok, said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast that he didn’t think the data from the TikTok in the US was safe.
TikTok said it has spent more than $1.5 billion on rigorous data security efforts and rejects allegations of spying, adding that “if protecting national security is the goal, divestment does not solve the problem: a change of heart.” ownership would not impose new restrictions on data flows or access”.
The new numbers are a sign of the app’s great popularity in the United States, especially among younger people. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Bloomberg News that there could be political fallout from banning TikTok.
“The politician in me thinks you’re literally going to lose all voters under the age of 35 forever,” he said.
Some TikTok creators will be heading to Washington this week to make the case for why the app shouldn’t be banned.