Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
TikTok has gone viral — and then some. A spiritual successor to Vine and an actual successor to Musical.ly, the shortform video sharing app has swept the world in the past year. Like other social media apps, it’s frequently the source of viral memes, slang, challenges, and dances. You may have seen it on the news when teenagers used the app to spread the word about a plan to reserve tickets for a ***** rally (and then not show up), when lawmakers called for a national security review of the app, or when it launched last year’s runaway hit song, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.” Initially popular mostly among teenagers and young adults, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, TikTok has exploded in popularity among users of all ages.
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