How TikTok Became the World’s Favorite App

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News, Business News

4.2 • 5.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2023

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We’re off today for the holiday, but we still have an episode for you! In only five years, TikTok has gained millions of fans around the world and become a source of geopolitical tension between the U.S. and China. We spoke to people who witnessed the app’s meteoric rise firsthand: influencers, former workers, and a government official who is concerned about TikTok’s data practices. This episode originally aired in November 2022. Further Reading: -TikTok’s Stratospheric Rise: An Oral History Further Listening: -Why TikTok’s Under Investigation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Ryan.
0:02.2	We're off today for President's Day,
0:04.1	but we wanted to share an episode we made last year.
0:06.7	It's about how TikTok became the world's favorite app,
0:09.8	and ended up at the center of tensions
0:11.4	between the US and China.
0:13.8	Here it is.
0:18.7	One day in September 2020,
0:21.0	Nathan Apodaka was driving to work
0:23.1	at a potato warehouse in Idaho,
0:25.4	when his truck broke down.
0:27.1	I was just driving and it broke down.
0:28.5	I was like, okay, I'm not gonna sit here
0:29.9	and cry about it, call my mom.
0:31.8	Works right there, you know, I could see it over the hill,
0:34.6	you know, and everything like that.
0:35.9	It was right over the interstate.
0:37.7	Nathan realized he could still get to work
0:39.7	by riding his skateboard.
0:41.7	And before he took off,
0:42.9	he decided to film himself and post it on TikTok.
0:46.7	He opened the app and chose the song Dreams
	...

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