Although TikTok has in recent years become a highly popular yet controversial digital platform, few empirical studies have examined its development and the challenges it faces. In this article, we investigate how major media in China, the United States and India have interpreted and responded to the rise of TikTok, based on an analysis of news articles from 2017 to 2020. We identify the dynamic discursive practices of the de-politicisation and re-politicisation of TikTok before and after 2020. In the earlier stage, rather than being framed as a political issue, TikTok was depicted as an unexpected business miracle. However, since 2020, TikTok has been increasingly embedded in the escalating geo-political tensions between China and the other two countries. By highlighting how TikTok shifted from being an ambitious digital platform to a state-centred security issue, we suggest that the political dimension, especially the state–enterprise relationship, is crucial to understanding the discourse regarding internationalisation of the Chinese Internet.
ChannelHC (2020) Is India’s gold rush era over as China’s apps are suddenly banned? (in Chinese). The People’s Daily, 1July. Available at: https://wap.peopleapp.com/article/rmh14301310/0 (accessed 15 July 2020).
9.
ChenG (2020) Why is ‘de-sinicization’ hard to achieve? (in Chinese). Available at: https://www.tmtpost.com/4407298.html (accessed 15 July 2020).
10.
ChenXKayeDZengJ (2020) # PositiveEnergy Douyin: constructing ‘playful patriotism’ in a Chinese short-video application. Chinese Journal of Communication14: 97–117.
CuiX (2020) The President dedicated his ‘first show’ to TikTok and France was not off track by the United States (in Chinese). Global Times, 9July. Available at: https://www.sohu.com/a/406544080_162522 (accessed 15 July 2020).
13.
CurranJ (2012) Reinterpreting the Internet. In: CurranNFJFreedmanJ (ed.) Misunderstanding the Internet. London: Routledge, pp. 3–33.
14.
De KloetJFungA (2017) Chinese Youth Culture. New York: Polity Press.
DeepTech (2020) Bad news again! US Secretary of State: TikTok ban under consideration (in Chinese). The People’s Daily, 9July. Available at: https://wap.peopleapp.com/article/rmh14477173/0 (accessed 15 July 2020).
17.
EntmanRM (2004) Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion, and US Foreign Policy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
18.
FaircloughN (1992) Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Frau-MeigsDNiceyJPalmerM, et al. (eds) (2012) From NWICO to WSIS: 30 Years of Communication Geopolitics – Actors and Flows, Structures and Divides. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
HongS (2017) Across the Great (Fire) Wall: China and the Global Internet. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
25.
HuJ (2020) India blocks Chinese app: ByteDance could lose $6 billion (in Chinese). The People’s Daily, 4July. Available at: https://wap.peopleapp.com/article/rmh14370743/0 (accessed 15 July 2020).
26.
HuangY (2017) Cracking the China Conundrum: Why Conventional Economic Wisdom Is Wrong. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
JenkinsH (2008) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
30.
jiemian.com (2020) Douyin Overseas edition is too popular in foreign countries, the US army who used it to do recruitment is now a little worried (in Chinese). Available at: https://wap.peopleapp.com/article/rmh10564083/rmh10564083 (accessed 15 July 2020).
KhattabM (2020) Synching and performing: body (re)-presentation in the short video app TikTok. Available at: https://osuva.uwasa.fi/handle/10024/10471 (accessed 15 July 2020).
33.
KluverRYangC (2005) The Internet in China: a meta-review of research. The Information Society21(4): 301–308.
LuXLuZLiuC (2020) Exploring TikTok use and non-use practices and experiences in China. Paper presented at the international conference on human-computer interaction, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 19–24.
36.
MackenzieSANicholsD (2020) Finding ‘places to be bad’ in social media: the case of TikTok. In: NicholsDPerilloS (eds) Urban Australia and Post-Punk. Singapore: Springer, pp. 285–298.
37.
MiaoWAngPH (2016) Internet governance: from the global to the local. Communication and the Public1(3): 377–384.
38.
MiaoWJiangMPangY (2020) Regulating the Internet in China: a meta-analysis of Chinese Internet policy from 1994–2017. Available at: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/15944 (accessed 1 August 2020).
39.
MiaoWZhuHChenZ (2018) Who’s in charge of regulating the Internet in China: the history and evolution of China’s Internet regulatory agencies. China Media Research14(3): 1–7.
40.
NegroG (2017) Chinese Internet companies go global: online traffic, framing and open issues. In: KentMEllisKXuJ (eds) Chinese Social Media. New York: Routledge, pp.175–190.
OmarBDequanW (2020) Watch, share or create: the influence of personality traits and user motivation on TikTok mobile video usage. Available at: https://www.learntechlib.org/p/216454/ (accessed 1 August 2020).
QiYLiX (2020) Exploring the roles of government involvement and institutional environments in the internationalization of Chinese Internet companies. Chinese Journal of Communication13(1): 47–67.
48.
QiuJLChanJM (2004) China Internet studies: a review of the field. In: NissenbaumHPriceME (eds) The Academy and the Internet. New York: Peter Lang, pp. 275–307.
SerranoJCMPapakyriakopoulosOHegelichS (2020) Dancing to the partisan beat: a first analysis of political communication on TikTok. arXiv preprint arXiv:
2004.05478200405478. Available at: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2004.05478.pdf (accessed 1 August 2020).
52.
ShanSWangP (2020) Tiktok under U.S. investigation, PENCE: take a tough line on Chinese entities threatening national security (in Chinese). The People’s Daily, 8July. Available at: https://wap.peopleapp.com/article/rmh14457374/0 (accessed 15 July 2020).
53.
ShaoJLeeS (2020) The effect of Chinese adolescents’ motivation to use Tiktok on satisfaction and continuous use intention. The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology6(2): 107–115.
54.
ShenY (2020) Douyin’s ‘de-China-isation’ self-vindication will only help Trump in his election campaign. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtVOpun5KA8 (accessed 4 August 2020).
StrategyO (2020) India punishes itself by boycotting 59 apps?Cheap tricks will not scare the neighbours (in Chinese). Available at: https://wap.peopleapp.com/article/rmh14295381/0 (accessed 15 July 2020).
58.
SunW (2015) Slow boat from China: public discourses behind the ‘going global’ media policy. International Journal of Cultural Policy21(4): 400–418.
WenY (2017) The Rise of Chinese Transnational ICT Corporations: The Case of Huawei. Burnaby, BC, Canada: Communication, Art & Technology, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University.
66.
YangG (2009) The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online. New York: Columbia University Press.
67.
YangG (2014) The return of ideology and the future of Chinese Internet policy. Critical Studies in Media Communication31(2): 109–113.
ZhangWXinB (2020) Expanding the cold war on science and technology with China, damages global business opportunities, U.S. threats to ban TikTok and WeChat (in Chinese). Global Times, 14July. Available at: https://tech.sina.com.cn/it/2020-07-14/doc-iivhvpwx5245679.shtml (accessed 15 July 2020).
ZhouQ (2019) Understanding User Behaviors of Creative Practice on Short Video Sharing Platforms – A Case Study of Tiktok and Bilibili. Cincinnati, OH: University of Cincinnati.
