Gen Z’s views on ad tracking, a history of TikTok and more

But even as users devour the bite-sized videos en masse, the geopolitical future of the platform is much more complicated. It’s been forbidden on state-owned devices in seven states and some officials say it should be banned in the U.S. — period. Its ties to China, the repressive Chinese Communist Party and surveillance have all raised deep concerns.

The New York Times Magazine has an excellent deep dive into the history of TikTok and its complex ties to both China and the United States. To take just one of its insights:

Just a few years ago, the rise of ByteDance seemed like a harbinger of an era of Chinese app dominance. Indeed, it would be hard to find a company more self-consciously modeled, in both spirit and substance, on America’s tech giants. ByteDance’s founder internalized the mythos of Silicon Valley, taking to heart the idea, long promoted by Washington, that the American market was the ultimate prize, and that it welcomed any entrepreneur with the talent and ambition to succeed. But now, with walls going up on both sides of the Pacific, TikTok seems likely to be the last of its kind as well as the first. The company is caught in the middle between the old era and the new — too Chinese for America, too American for China.