In its infancy, TikTok was often described as an app for teenagers’ dance videos. In 2025, it’s a juggernaut with 170 million users in the United States and, according to the Justice Department, a national security threat that must be eliminated.
The platform’s path from a whimsical dance app to the target of a federal ban has been dotted with recipes, niche drama, micro trends, new entries into the popular lexicon and overnight megastars — as well as legal troubles, Senate hearings and, finally, a widely watched Supreme Court case.
Here’s a timeline of the app’s meteoric rise, and a reminder of the videos that dominated your algorithm, whether you wanted them to or not.
2012
Zhang Yiming, a Chinese entrepreneur, founds ByteDance. He reportedly sketched the rough concept for what would become TikTok on the back of a napkin.
2014
July
Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang launch Musical.ly. The co-founders pivoted the platform from an education app to a lip-sync app, allowing users to make 15-second videos singing along to popular songs.
2015
July
Musical.ly takes the top spot in the Apple app store in the United States.
2016
September
ByteDance launches Douyin, a short-form video app, in China. It goes on to become the most popular app of its kind in the country and a precursor to TikTok. Douyin can be used only in China, and the authorities there use the app to spread propaganda.
October
A handful of “musers” — shorthand for Musical.ly users — appear on the cover of Billboard, which declares that the app is “changing the music industry.” Most of the cover stars are children.
2017
September
ByteDance launches TikTok in Indonesia.
November
ByteDance buys Musical.ly, and its 60 million users in the United States and Europe, for around $1 billion.
2018
August
Musical.ly is sunset as the app is merged with TikTok. Users in the United States are automatically ported over to the new app.
November
TikTok surpasses Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube in monthly downloads for the first time.
2019
February
TikTok agrees to pay $5.7 million to settle child privacy violation claims.
Ratatata! Ratatata! Ah.
July
Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” becomes an inescapable ear worm thanks to TikTok. Yeehaw!
December
The United States Department of Defense warns members of the military to remove TikTok from both their work and personal devices. Soon after, the Marine Corps begins blocking the app on government-issued devices.
Hype House, a home where many of TikTok’s biggest stars live, is formed. It and other so-called collab houses are places where TikTokers film content and support one another’s professional careers as creators.
2020
February
The Renegade, perhaps TikTok’s most famous dance, becomes an allegory when users across the app film themselves performing the choreography without crediting Jalaiah Harmon, the Atlanta teenager who created the moves.
March
Curtis Roach’s “bored in the house and I’m in the house bored” becomes an anthem for people at home during pandemic lockdowns, when many more users joined the app. Tyga produces it into a single.
A jingle for Russian cereal — it sounds like “mi pan su su sum” — becomes an app favorite.
September
The Trump administration announces it will ban several Chinese-owned mobile apps, including TikTok. Later in the month, a federal judge grants an injunction against the ban.
Nathan Apodaca entrances users with a video of himself skateboarding to a Fleetwood Mac song and sipping Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice. The brand later gifted him a new truck and the song, “Dreams,” shot back up the charts.
November
Charli D’Amelio, a teenager best known for filming dance videos in her bedroom, becomes the app’s most-followed user with 100 million followers.
December
Musical theater kids and adults create a community-written TikTok musical based on Disney Pixar’s animated film “Ratatouille.”
An unassuming video of a user named Bella Poarch rhythmically bobbing her head to the song “M to the B” is crowned the most-viewed TikTok of the year at half a billion views.
June
Khaby Lame, a Senegalese-Italian creator, becomes the most followed creator on TikTok by reacting to nonsensical life hacks.
A wannabe “Saturday Night Live” cast member gets roasted.
July
Young people dress up as “gentleminions” in full suits to attend the premiere of “Minions: The Rise of Gru.”
A brightly colored condiment known as Pink Sauce baffles, amuses and disgusts.
September
An elementary schooler from Brooklyn professes adoration for his favorite food: “It’s corn!”
The Food and Drug Administration, not fluent in TikTok irony, issues an entirely serious warning against cooking chicken in NyQuil.
More young people are using TikTok as a search engine, heading to the platform before Google Search.
October
A negroni. Sbagliato. With Prosecco. Stunning.
The Biden administration signals it wants Congress to take more action against TikTok.
June
The Grimace milkshake, a purple McDonald’s promotional beverage, inspires a grisly, yet comedic, genre of videos.
July
During the Hollywood strike, SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, tells influencers that crossing the picket line would make them ineligible for eventual union membership.
Girl dinner appeals to snack fans but also spurs conversations about disordered eating.
Yes, yes, yes. Ice cream, so good! PinkyDoll inspires copycats around the globe to act like a video game character for hours on end. She said she made between $2,000 and $3,000 per stream.
August
As travel heats back up again, the Americans and Europeans are fighting online.
We’re all living on the “Planet of the Bass.”
September
We learn how often men think about the Roman Empire.
TikTok introduces the TikTok Shop in the United States, allowing users to buy clothes, cosmetics and other odds and ends directly on the app.
A bucolic daydream of the 1950s becomes a coveted lifestyle referred to as tradwife, or traditional wife.
December
Users come to Luigi Mangione’s defense after he is charged with murdering a health insurance executive.
2025
January
Bad Bunny’s “most Puerto Rican album yet” hits a chord with abuelos and abuelas.
Lawyers for TikTok and creators argue before the Supreme Court that banning the platform would infringe on the First Amendment.
As TikTok’s future becomes uncertain, some download Red Note, a video-sharing app developed in China.
Hank Sanders contributed reporting.
