TikTok’s monthly active users in US jump to 150mn, firm launches PR exercise to fix sullied image

Even as TikTok is confronted with a pushback from US government quarters over concerns of app's alleged spying and data sharing, the video hosting platform is reluctant to become irrelevant in the country. As per a latest report by TikTok, the number of users on the platform hasseen an uptick and has reached150 million monthly active users in the US.

The application had 100 million monthly active users in 2020. The Chinese application is already thriving in US. It has become the source of many entertaining and viral trends.

The development comes as TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is all set to testify before US House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Thursday.US President Joe Biden in December last year signed a bill banning the Chinese app on devices of federal government employees.

The move was taken amid concerns that the app, which is owned by the Chinese company Bytedance, poses a threat to national security.

US government had earlier levelled allegations on TikTok saying that the application shares users' data with the Chinese government, an accusation that the Chinese app has refuted.

As per TikTok data, over one billion people worldwide use the app to learn something new or connect generally with others holding shared interests.Earlier, Biden gavean ultimatum to TikTok saying that the application will face a potential ban unless its Chinese owners divest their stakein it.

Reacting to this, the TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said, “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem."

“A change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access. The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing," Shanahan added as per a CNN report.

Before the CEO faces the US congress, TikTok is apparently going out on an all-out PR effort to position itself as an application highly focused on the security of its users' data.

According to a Bloomberg report, the company took out a four-page colour ad in New York Times on Monday. A QR code in the ad takes the person who scans it to a page where a cartoon video elaborates on how the video hosting platform has invested $1.5 billion in security.

The company also gave ads in the Washington Metro system, at Union Station and in the Washington Post along with sponsoring Politico’s Playbook newsletter and Axios’s tech-focused Login newsletter.

Moreover, in what appeared to be company's corporate strategy to distance itself from the Chinese government, TikTok earlier also took outads in Australian newspapers. As per reports, a TikTok ad in The Australian read the tagline “Don’t make TikTok a political football."

There are also reports suggesting that TikTok has an "army of lobbyists" which is trying to change the opinion of influential people in Washington to avoid a ban on the Chinese app.

(With inputs from agencies)

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