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TikTok user growth in the United States has slowed significantly as more people quit the social video app, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. Conflict with metaplatform (Nasdaq:Meta)'s Instagram Reels has grown in popularity, but the breakdown in licensing negotiations with Universal Music Group has also caused some headaches.
User attrition has been particularly pronounced among younger consumers who first embraced the app's bottomless feed of user-generated videos. The average number of monthly users between the ages of 18 and 24 in the U.S. decreased by about 9% from 2022 to 2023, according to data from mobile analytics firm Data.ai. Driven by a growing older demographic, TikTok now has an estimated 170 million users, up from 150 million last year.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance, met but did not exceed its ad sales target for the second half of last year, the magazine reported, citing sources. TikTok and ByteDance are not publicly traded, so there is a limited amount of financial information about their businesses. TikTok is not making a profit, the Journal reported.
ByteDance is facing new demands this month from U.S. lawmakers to ban TikTok, citing national security and data privacy concerns. TikTok said it does not give data to the Chinese government and would not respond to requests.
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday that would ban TikTok unless ByteDance sells the app's U.S. operations to a company not subject to China's data-sharing laws. The bill faces further debate in the Senate, where President Biden has said he intends to sign the bill once it reaches his desk.
