Viral trends, political satire, and dance videos have come to define what TikTok is for it's young 'Zoomer' demographic.
But heightened pressure across the world over fears around Chinese government interference with the app's user data has seen some governments consider banning the app.
What do users of the app think?
Lily Grace is in her final year of high school. Last summer she was working at a newsagency but quit when she started making more money online, via Tik Tok.
"It's weird how quick your followers grow on TikTok because you could put out one viral video and get heaps of new followers like five thousand in one night," Lily told The Feed.
Lily Grace. Source: The Feed
In just under a year, Lily has amassed over 100,000 followers. But she's not the only one in the family feverishly editing their next viral TikTok. Her older sister, Georgia, makes videos too. She has almost half a million on TikTok.
Georgia, Lily's older sister. Source: The Feed
Lily and Georgia are among the 1.6 million Australians who've signed up to the app already. Globally, there are 800 million active users.
It's so popular that many have begun to question its safety. Despite calls to restrict use of the app, so far India is the only country to ban it, while the US has given the owners of TikTok until September 15 to sell to Microsoft, or they will ban it.
But is there really any cause for concern?
Alex, a talent manager to all the famous people you haven't heard of, doesn't think there's anything to be worried about when it comes to TikTok.
"It's just the whole bunch of boring old people don't understand TikTok. That's all it is. That's all the MPs getting upset, they don't get it," Alex told The Feed.
"Every platform does it; Facebook Instagram Twitter. They all take your data to create that experience that keeps you on the platform. TikTok is not different."
Alex, a talent manager of some of the famous TikTok influencers. Source: The Feed
Alex goes as far as to joke if "China was actually going through the data", he would be arrested.
Fergus Ryan is an analyst at The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (APSI) and specialises in Chinese tech companies, censorship, and social media. He disagrees with Alex.
"[TikTok] is operating in a completely different legal environment to all those other apps," Ryan told The Feed.
Ryan explains China has a suite of national security laws that allow authorities to access data held by companies like ByteDance, who own and operate TikTok.
"So that's quite a concern for users of that platform. There are no real checks and balances in place to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from readily accessing it," he said.
In 2016, the FBI attempted to get Apple to unlock the iPhone of one San Bernardino shooters after he killed 14 people and injured a further 22. The tech company refused to allow the federal agency access to its data.
It’s an act of agency Ryan doesn’t believe to be possible in China.
“We've seen very clearly senior executives at [ByteDance] state on the record that their intention is to ensure that the apps that they run do so in a way that helps to promote the goals of the Chinese Communist Party,” Ryan said .
In 2019, on how ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, was allegedly working with the Chinese government to spread propaganda.
A TikTok spokesperson told The Feed, that the company is privately owned and is focused on being a platform that allows people to create and watch amazing videos around the world.
"Contrary to some claims out there I really want to make it clear to everyone that TikTok is not aligned to any government, political party, or ideology," a spokesperson said.
Parents urge caution
Lily and Georgia's parents are both high school teachers, and when they heard about their daughters wanting to make videos, they were horrified.
"There are a lot of crazy people out there and there's no way that you're going to put yourself out there as a young girl because there's a lot of negativity and weird people," Lily and Grace's Mum told The Feed.
Despite the initial concern, their daughters were allowed to start creating the content that's seen them both amass large followings. There are conditions though: their parents watch all the videos before they're posted; neither of the them use their last names, say where they live or identify school emblems.
Lily, Georgia and their mum sitting at their dinner table. Source: The Feed
The precautions didn't stop Georgia from experiencing some harmful and inappropriate comments that scared her when she first started out on YouTube.
"It was, 'I love your cute little ass. I wank off to it every night and stuff.' I was 14. I had absolutely nothing on me, I was the skinniest thing," she said.
"I cried, I was shaking, hyperventilating I felt so I felt like he was right next to me."
The scrutiny YouTube and Facebook have faced in the past about comment filters are now being focused on TikTok, where 66 per cent of users are female and the biggest age group is under 24.
"We were horrified...you just get chills when you read a comment like that. It was so creepy," her mum said.
Should TikTok be banned?
Donald Trump has used executive orders to effectively ban Tik Tok from mid-September and Tik Tok is projected to launch legal action. So far, the Australian government is not looking to ban the app, but have urged caution on the data collected by the company. Addressing a forum on the issue earlier this month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, "People need to understand where the extension cord goes back to."
Lily is concerned about what a potential ban might mean for people like herself, teenagers.
"It would affect a lot of people," she said.
"I know that just a lot of teenagers are just addicted to it."
Ryan is still on the fence about a ban for TikTok, he's currently conducting research over the topic of banning the app.
"But I do think that banning the app should not be out of the question. I think it should be an option that is on the table," he said.
