TikTok is the fastest growing app on the planet.  And, unusually for a breakout social media app, it’s owned by a Chinese company.  That’s a combination that makes a lot of people in the west uncomfortable,  and puts the makers of the app, Beijing-based ByteDance, in a precarious position as they navigate political and economic pressures from seemingly every direction. 

Chris Stokel-Walker is a writer based in London. He’s written for Wired, the New York Times, BBC News, and other fine publications, and now he has a new book called Tik-Tok Boom: China’s Dynamite App and the Superpower Race for Social Media.

The book is available in the UK, and it’ll published everywhere else on September 30.