TikTok: Social Media Heavyweight

The White House has endorsed a Senate bill that members unveiled Tuesday, which would give the U.S. government more far-reaching powers in restricting and even banning foreign-linked software or electronics producers. The draft law is considered to be aimed at Chinese-owned social media network TikTok, even though it doesn't explicitly name the service. As CNN reports, the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act - RESTRICT for short - is being unveiled after two years of largely fruitless negotiations with TikTok to address U.S. national security concerns surrounding the app. Concern over how much of TikTok's user data could be seen - and potentially weaponized - by the Chinese government has been heightening in the U.S. and Europe alike.

As seen in data by Statista Market Insights, TikTok has curated a large following in the United States and Europe, with its app revenue market share surpassing those of older social media networks like Instagram and Facebook - both U.S. owned. In the United States, TikTok's share is already comprising 26 percent of the market, far ahead of Instagram's 14 percent. However, advertisers have been sticking to longer-standing services. TikTok's social media ad spending share in the U.S. as well as the UK and Germany hovered between 9-12 percent, behind larger ad players Facebook, Instagram as well as professional networks Linkedin (i.e. equivalent Xing in the German market).