... was launched in 2017 by ByteDance, a company that was founded in Beijing in 2012. It's only available outside China.
"ByteDance", according to Wikipedia, "had previously launched Douyin for the China market in September 2016. TikTok and Douyin are similar to each other, but they run on separate servers to comply with Chinese censorship restrictions."
TikTok takes its name from the debut single by the American singer, songwriter and rapper Kesha (released in 2009, when she was still Ke$ha). The controversial American website slate.com has thoughtfully provided A Guide to TikTok for Anyone Who Isn't a Teen.
© Haydn Thompson 2020