TikTok has become the social network for children and adults. Their contents They range from viralizing ‘little gossip’, spreading conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton’s most recent photo, explaining a cooking recipe, to sharing makeup tutorials.
A digital tool that can be helpless and highly utility For people in the creative world, it can also mean a ‘headache’ for some countries.
And the United States is working on a law that prohibits the use of the social network, arguing that China used it to influence the electoral process.
But all this, who owns tiktok And what has your path to success been like in recent years? We know this.
Who is Zhang Yiming, owner of TikTok?
Zhang Yiming is a 41-year-old businessman and one of the most successful in the world. In China he is compared to Mark Zuckerberg, due to his technological platform.
It all started in 2012, when the Chinese started working with the company ByteDancededicated to artificial intelligence, which is currently valued at more than 75 billion dollars.
Of the Applications that Yiming has created, TikTok is the most successful. In January 2021, the platform was among the 10 social networks with the most monthly active users worldwide.
Before, Yiming graduated in software engineering, although he originally began studying microelectronics, at Nankia University and later joined Microsoft.
Due to the success he has had with his company, Times magazine included him among the 100 most influential people in the world.
From the little that is known about his private life is that he is single and He lives in the capital of China, Beijing.
Why does the United States want to ban TikTok on its territory?
The United States Intelligence Community This Monday he accused the Chinese Government of having used TikTok to influence the 2022 midterm elections and warned that Beijing could try to interfere in this year’s elections due to its desire to “widen the divisions in American society.”
This appears in a report delivered this Monday to Congress by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which coordinates the 18 intelligence agencies of the United States.
How did TikTok operate to influence the 2022 US elections?
According to the report, andThe Chinese government used app accounts of Chinese origin TikTok to harm candidates from both the Democratic and Republican Parties during the 2022 elections, in which the Democrats obtained better results than expected by retaining the Senate and losing the Lower House by a few seats.
Likewise, with an eye to the future, he warns that the Chinese Executive could try to influence the November elections, in which, in addition to renewing the Lower House and a third of the Senate, if there are no surprises the Democratic president, Joe Biden , will face again the former Republican president Donald Trump (2017-2021).
“China may attempt to influence the 2024 US elections at some level due to its desire to harm those critical of China and widen divisions in US society,” the document reads.
US intelligence agrees that Chinese government actors have “increased their ability to carry out covert actions and spread disinformation.”
US intelligence agencies have previously accused China of trying to influence their elections, but this warning It takes on added significance because it comes at a time of renewed debate in Washington over whether TikTok should be banned.
In fact, the Lower House, dominated by Republicans, is preparing to vote on a bill that would force TikTok to divest from its Chinese ownership if it does not want to be banned in the North American country.
If this project receives approval from the Lower House and later from the Senate, ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, would have 180 days to sell the application.
During his administration, Trump tried to impose a veto on TikTok, but after a long legal battle he was unable to do so. This Monday, however, he warned that although the platform poses a national threat, banning it would benefit Facebook and other media.
TikTok has about 170 million users in the United States and has quickly become one of the most popular social networks in the world, especially among young people.
With information from EFE.
