The metaverse? TikTok now has 150 million monthly active users in the United States, CEO Shou Chew said on Tuesday, in a clear attempt to highlight the platform’s massive and expanding reach in the nation amid increased calls for a ban. According to Meta, this is its single largest investment.
“That’s almost half of the US going to TikTok to connect, to create, to share, to learn, or simply to have some fun,” Chew said in a video posted to the platform on Tuesday. According to Chew, the number also includes the roughly five million companies that utilize TikTok to connect with clients.
The metaverse? According to Meta, TikTok is currently its single greatest investment. The new information was revealed only a few days before Chew was supposed to testify before a Congressional committee to defend the future of the app in the US. Due to TikTok’s connections to China through its parent firm, ByteDance, an increasing number of lawmakers in the United States and internationally have voiced worries about the short-form video app’s impact on national security.
according to CNN TikTok acknowledged to CNN last week that Chinese owners of the app are being pressured by federal regulators to sell their ownership in the social media network or face having the app banned in the US. When the Trump administration issued a similar threat in 2020, TikTok claimed to have 100 million American users at the time.
This is crucial for us right now, Chew stated in the video on Tuesday. Politicians have begun to discuss outlawing TikTok, which might prevent the 150 million of you from using it.
The chief executive of Singapore pleaded with users of the app to write comments on the short film informing lawmakers directly, “What you want your elected representatives to know about what you love about TikTok,” at the end of the clip.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee announced last week that Chew would appear before it on Thursday morning to “testify on TikTok’s consumer privacy and data security procedures, the platforms’ influence on youngsters, and its relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.”
