TikTok now has 150 million monthly users in the United States, up from 100 million in 2020: Report

In contrast to the 100 million users it said it would have in 2020, TikTok reported on Monday that the short-video sharing app currently has 150 million monthly active users in the United States.

Prior to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew's scheduled appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday, the Chinese-owned app provided the statistic.

Bipartisan legislation to provide President Joe Biden additional authority to impose a TikTok ban on national security grounds received the support of six more U.S. senators on Friday. TikTok said last week that the Biden administration had ordered its Chinese owners to sell their shares in the app or risk having the U.S. ban the business.

The app is under increasing criticism in Washington, including demands to outlaw it from numerous members of Congress who are concerned that U.S. user data may end up in the hands of the Chinese government. In September 2021, TikTok claimed to have more over 1 billion monthly users worldwide.

Mark Warner, leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast that he did not believe TikTok's American data was secure and that he was cosponsoring legislation to give the government the authority to prohibit TikTok.

This hypothetical concept that data may be rendered secure under (Chinese Communist Party) regulation "simply doesn't, doesn't pass the sniff test."

If protecting national security is the goal, divestment doesn't solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access, according to TikTok, which claimed to have spent more than $1.5 billion on rigorous data security efforts and rejects spying allegations.

The updated statistics demonstrate the app's broad appeal, particularly among younger Americans. Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce, warned Bloomberg News that banning TikTok would have political repercussions. "The politician in me feels you're going to actually lose every voter under 35, forever," she remarked.

This week, several TikTok content producers will visit Washington to argue against the app's continued use.