TikTok portrays itself as force for good

The popular video app, which could be banned in the United States next month, is portraying itself as a saviour of Americans and a champion of small businesses in a new campaign, writes Sapna Maheshwari from New York.

- 

In an emotional advertisement running on Facebook and Instagram over the past month, a young woman, tears welling, talks about being diagnosed with an illness that resulted in kidney failure at age 19. But she was able to find a transplant match “because a stranger was scrolling on TikTok.”

“Thanks to that stranger’s kidney, she continued, “I’m here today.” For some people, having TikTok has literally been lifesaving,” the company wrote in a caption punctuated by a tearful smiling emoji.

The message is part of a new ad blitz from TikTok, the popular social media app owned by the Chinese internet giant ByteDance. The campaign frames TikTok as a saviour of Americans and a champion of small businesses as the app battles towards an April deadline to sell the company to a United States owner or face a ban by the United States, President Donald Trump, who paused a federal law demanding TikTok’s sale because of national security concerns related to its ties to China, has said he will allow the app more time for a deal if needed. But TikTok does not appear to be taking any chances.

In the past couple of months, the company has wallpapered Washington in marketing, brought reporters around and run in the print edition of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times and poured money into national commercials. (Continuing the theme of saving lives, TikTok’s ads also have featured a creator who sells a product that helps with administering CPR.)