TikTok is a short form video hosting service owned by Bytedance, which was originally called Douyin when it first released in China in 2016, but was then renamed to TikTok for its western release in 2018, to cater to western markets. Douyin has approximately 500 million daily users in China, while its western counterpart TikTok has approximately 1 billion daily users all over the world.
TikTok and Douyin share a variety of differences between them. Mainly the regulations that relate to either of them. Douyin is heavily regulated and controlled by the Chinese government, which has lead to regulations such as how for children under 14 years old, the app is locked from 10pm - 6am, they can only access the app 40 minutes a day, and the algorithm is altered to promote videos like science experiments, museum exhibits, patriotism and culture videos, educational content, and PE lessons. Moreover, in China, apps are responsible for the actions of the users that view content on their apps.
Compare this to the US, TikTok has a grand total of 0 regulations and promotes whatever videos get the company the most viewer screen time, ad revenue, etc.
Difficulties of regulating media in the digital age:
Regulation of different forms of media are becoming harder and harder in this digital age, especially for content on social media platforms. This however differs between countries due to their specific laws that protect these platforms. A key example of this would be the case of Douyin vs TikTok, Douyin and TikTok are 2 apps operated by the Chinese internet technology company Bytedance. Douyin was their original app that they released to Chinese markets in 2016, while TikTok was the name given to the western counterpart to cater towards western markets, which was released later on in 2018.
In China, apps and social media platforms are highly regulated by the government, for which Douyin is no exception. Regulations for the app include how children from the age of 14 and under have the app locked from 10pm - 6am, can only access the app for 40 minutes a day, and have a specific algorithm that focusses on providing them/showing videos that are educational, patriotic, cultural, and overall show China/the government in a positive light. Compare this to TikTok, where in the US specifically due to US Law Section 230 (Which states that media platforms are not liable/have immunity from the publicly generated content posted on the app, and can regulate their platforms however they like without losing said immunity), there are no regulations in place at all to prevent kids or adults alike from viewing whatever kinds of content they like, and for however long they want.
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