TikTok is the new Facebook – and it is shaping the future of tech in its image

The swift rise of the Chinese video-sharing app could have ramifications for all of us and how we live, both online and off, writes Chris Stokel-Walker

In March 2020 alone users spent as much time on TikTok as there has been since the Stone Age: 2.8bn hours, or nearly 320,000 years. File picture: Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

AGAINST the backdrop of a global pandemic that has kept millions of people inside with nothing but their phones for company, the short-form video-sharing app TikTok has quietly ascended to the top ranks of tech.

TikTok was the world’s most downloaded app last year and, according to App Annie, a mobile analytics company, in March 2020 alone users spent as much time on it as there has been since the Stone Age: 2.8bn hours, or nearly 320,000 years.