dark days of the pandemic. And, for
now at least, the app’s rabbit holes
tend to be different from the typically
dark, anonymous, and cynical versions
that populate the Internet—though as
the volume of content on the plat-
form proliferates so do the odds of
objectionable behavior. It’s also true
that the company itself is hardly a
Pollyanna. At three years old, it’s like
a prodigiously talented teenager who’s
capable of effortlessly charming peers
and parents but can’t seem to stay out
of the principal’s office.
In 2019, while still known
as Musical.ly, TikTok was fined
$5.7 million by federal regulators for
illegally collecting information on
users under 13. Earlier this year it
paid $92 million to settle a class-
action suit over the theft of personal
data. TikTok tightened its rules this
summer around data harvesting for
users under 13 only to have report-
ers at the Wall Street Journal a few
months later create a series of bot
accounts to demonstrate how TikTok
pushes sexually suggestive content
to minors. The algorithm has also
been widely criticized for unfairly
promoting beauty and hampering
users’ ability to focus. Moreover, the
platform has often been criticized
for fanning the flames of dangerous
stunts, vandalism, criminal mischief,
and underage drinking.
If TikTok is going to keep expand-
ing its user base beyond Gen Z andmake brands feel more comfortable,
it’s got to get better at playing the
role of sheriff. A source at one of the
world’s biggest brands tells me that
the company put all TikTok market-
ing on hold in the wake of the Journal
story. “Our number one priority as
a company is to protect our users,
whether they’re young or not,” says
Chandlee. “We’ve gone from a handful
of advertisers to hundreds of thou-
sands, so it’s been an amazing journey,
but it hasn’t been easy. It’s been hard.”
Regarding the Journal article
specifically, he adds, “The behavior
of those bots does not reflect actual
human behavior, but we spent a lot
of time as a senior leadership group
looking at that and, you know what?
Yeah, we need to do even more. We’re
taking down millions of pieces of
content that might be inappropriate,
and we’ve spent a lot of time on this
concept of trust. Because at the end
of the day, the brands have to trust
us, our users have to trust us, and the
government bodies have to trust us.”
Chandlee doesn’t exactly cop to
mistakes. Rather, he professes to
be charting a course that avoids his
competitors’ sins. “I’m personally a big
believer in learning from history. And
there were mistakes that were made
by some big tech players around data
and privacy. I think we can learn from
that,” he says. “But I also think you
need to chart your own path. What
we’re building here is very different.We’ve got our own culture, our own
product, and our own role that we
play in people’s lives.”
What that culture becomes is also
an open question. TikTok is avail-
able in more than 150 markets and
Chandlee says the company acts
independently from the Chinese par-
ent. (It’s not available in China and
it’s banned in India, making its user
numbers even more impressive.). But
if workplace reviews on Glassdoor are
to be believed, that’s not always the
case—and recruiting may become a
challenge. The benefits and pay don’t
compare to Google and Facebook,
there is little work/life balance, and
people say they’re often required to
hold meetings with Chinese counter-
parts at all hours of the night.
After discussing TikTok’s corpo-
rate identity and future trajectory, I
decide to challenge Chandlee to my
little game of word association. “I say
TikTok, you say...” It’s the first time in
our conversation that smooth TikTok
exec seems tongue-tied. “Wow, that’s
a really hard one,” he says. “We use
the word ‘authentic’ a lot. I think I’ll
go with that.” Maybe a bit focus-
grouped, but not bad.
TikTok is definitely a place where
people can go to be themselves, warts
(or eye bags) and all—and be made
to feel like they’re not alone. To dance
like nobody’s watching—and be
adored by millions. To develop their
unique qualities—and be compen-
sated for them. It’s not perfect by any
stretch. But I can’t help but wish it
existed when I was a teenager. And
after everything that’s happened over
the past two years, it makes sense that
a platform with such power to trans-
form every individual’s view of the
world around us would resonate so
deeply with so many. You say “TikTok.”
I say, “Right place. Right time.”Jerey M. O’Brien (@ jereyobrien) is
cofounder of the Bay Area storytelling
studio StoryTK.THE TIKTOK ECONOMY$104 billion
Size of the creator economy, according
to a recent report by Neo Ranch and
Influencer Marketing Hub