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Every Screen on the Planet: The War Over Tiktok
The rise of the most effective attention-algorithm ever invented, and the superpower struggle to control it.
TikTok boasts 1.6 billion active users worldwide and wields unprecedented power over culture, politics, and commerce—making its addictive algorithm the greatest prize in America’s technological cold war with China.
In Every Screen on the Planet, Harvard-trained lawyer and investigative journalist Emily Baker-White charts TikTok’s rise from the Chinese founders’ ambitions to its emergence as the world’s most valuable startup—and a potential surveillance and propaganda tool for strongmen. Based on explosive reporting that caused TikTok to track the author and led to an ongoing criminal investigation, Baker-White’s engrossing narrative takes us inside the struggle as hawks in Congress push the company to the brink while the US government seeks backdoor access to observe and influence TikTok’s data stream. Touching on politics, finance, business, and technology, she explains how the war for TikTok will either create a blueprint for autocrats to warp our information landscape or close the open internet as we know it.
TikTok boasts 1.6 billion active users worldwide and wields unprecedented power over culture, politics, and commerce—making its addictive algorithm the greatest prize in America’s technological cold war with China.
In Every Screen on the Planet, Harvard-trained lawyer and investigative journalist Emily Baker-White charts TikTok’s rise from the Chinese founders’ ambitions to its emergence as the world’s most valuable startup—and a potential surveillance and propaganda tool for strongmen. Based on explosive reporting that caused TikTok to track the author and led to an ongoing criminal investigation, Baker-White’s engrossing narrative takes us inside the struggle as hawks in Congress push the company to the brink while the US government seeks backdoor access to observe and influence TikTok’s data stream. Touching on politics, finance, business, and technology, she explains how the war for TikTok will either create a blueprint for autocrats to warp our information landscape or close the open internet as we know it.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published September 30, 2025
31 people are currently reading
2727 people want to read
About the author
Emily Baker-White
5 books6 followersEmily Baker-White is a San Francisco–based reporter at Forbes, where her TikTok coverage has won awards and shaped narratives. A Harvard Law School graduate and former criminal defender, she previously led the Plain View Project, an investigation into police misconduct on Facebook.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 1, 2025
Every Screen on the Planet: The War Over Tiktok
I found this book really compelling.
Emily goes over the start of TikTok, the rise, and how it began.
She then highlights the importance of the algorithm, and how it is not just a business tool, but a geopolitical tool.
I found that the book really well frames tensions over US/China tech and the impending current "purchase" and what it all could entail.
I found that Emily also well explained the issues with TikTok, and how it doesn't offer much in the way of digital privacy. In fact, it is more of a surveillance tool. It also is used as a political weapon, polarizing citizens and creating distrust internally, while showing positive messages about authoritarian dictatorships abroad.
Emily does a great job at describing the issues with TikTok, and describing some opportunities as well. I found I learned a lot, and I would give it a recommendation.
Check it out!
Recommended Reading
If you wish to learn more on TikTok and social media, I would also recommend:
Attention Factory: The Story of TikTok & China’s ByteDance
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
3.8/5
I found this book really compelling.
Emily goes over the start of TikTok, the rise, and how it began.
She then highlights the importance of the algorithm, and how it is not just a business tool, but a geopolitical tool.
I found that the book really well frames tensions over US/China tech and the impending current "purchase" and what it all could entail.
I found that Emily also well explained the issues with TikTok, and how it doesn't offer much in the way of digital privacy. In fact, it is more of a surveillance tool. It also is used as a political weapon, polarizing citizens and creating distrust internally, while showing positive messages about authoritarian dictatorships abroad.
Emily does a great job at describing the issues with TikTok, and describing some opportunities as well. I found I learned a lot, and I would give it a recommendation.
Check it out!
Recommended Reading
If you wish to learn more on TikTok and social media, I would also recommend:
Attention Factory: The Story of TikTok & China’s ByteDance
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
3.8/5
Read
November 7, 2025DNF after chapter 1 cause it’s not telling me anything new.
Read
January 3, 2026This book tells the story of how TikTok rose from a niche startup to a global cultural phenomenon, and how its success sparked one of the most intense technology and national-security battles of recent decades. It starts by looking at the growth of social media after the release of iPhones and then shows how Bytedance turned Musical.ly into the ubiquitous TikTok we see today. Then it looks at the political battles over TikTok as its commercial and social power grew. Eventually Congress passed a bi-partisan law that forced Bytedance to divest TikTok to an American company or be banned. However, the ban went into effect on the last day of Biden's term. He chose not to enforce it because Trump had said that he wouldn't enforce it. Trump has used the "one-time" extension to the ban several times to allow negotiations to proceed with several of his supporters working together to buy the app.
This is a great book that combines analysis of culture, technology and politics to tell a fascinating story. It goes beyond the story itself and into deeper issues that it raises. It looks at the value of attention as a commodity, the vulnerabilities of global tech platforms to political and national-security conflicts, and the ways governments and corporations grapple with regulating powerful technologies. I took a little while to get into the first fifty pages and then did the next three hundred in a few days. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the politics of social media.
My longer summary:
TikTok's strength was in its algorithm that keeps people in app by catering to their individual tastes. Rather than searching for information, it came to you. In addition, it got a HUGE boost from the pandemic, where its users in the United States increase exponentially.
That's where the trouble begins. The fact that it was so widely used and was a Chinese app made American politicians suspicious of it. The first main concern was that it could gather data on Americans for use by the Chinese Communist Party. This was made more immediate by the promulgation of the 2017 Chinese security law that mandated that all Chinese companies must give all available data to the CCP upon request. This was around the same time as TikTok launched internationally and wasn't targeting it at all, but by 2021, TikTok's success made this an issue. To make things worse, the CCP had recently "disappeared" a few Chinese tech titans for getting too big for their britches. They later reappeared with no explanation and properly chastened. It would hardly be surprising if it did the same thing to Bytedance's founder Zhang Yiming, a Chinese citizen and, at the time, resident. He later stepped down as Bytedance's CEO but maintained control through "super-voter shares". He also hired a Singaporean, Shao Zi Chew, as TikTok CEO and moved the headquarters there. These were done to placate Americans concerned about data security, but because Zhang remained in charge, he was still vulnerable to extortion from the CCP. Even if he were outside of the country, the CCP has been known to abduct family members of dissidents who live abroad to quell their activities. It is worth noting that Shou testified that if Americans were really worried about their data, they wouldn't allow companies like Meta to sell it to the highest bidder, regardless of nationality. It was a fair argument.
The second problem was the fear that the algorithm could be manipulated to influence young American minds. The algorithm was controlled by Chinese citizens, so they would have little ability to resist CCP pressure to adjust it. TikTok lobbied furiously that it would never do such a thing. It worked for a while and early attempts to ban it failed. One reason was when Shou testified before a House committee, several members embarrassed themselves with a lack of technical and geographic knowledge. It was a little embarrassing for Americans, but another bill was written and passed. The earlier bill gave the president sweeping powers, but the one that ultimately passed (PAFACA) was tailored specifically at TikTok with very limited presidential discretion. It was signed into law and came into effect the day before Biden left office.
After the US Supreme Court upheld the PAFACA on the issue of surveillance and date (it made no ruling on the issue of potential Chinese propaganda), TikTok changed its approach and started sucking up to Trump. While running, Trump had said that he would save TikTok and he hated that banning TikTok would benefit Meta and Zuckerberg, so this wasn't the toughest sell for TikTok's PR team. It worked and Trump said he would not enforce the ban of 75 days. The number seemed arbitrary because PAFACA allowed for a single extension if a deal to sell TikTok was imminent. The problem with Trump's decision is that it had no legal weight and if the next president tried to collect the fines due, Meta and Oracle would go bankrupt. Nevertheless, TikTok continued its schmoozing by publicly thanking Trump on the app so that it is now running as profitably as ever.
This is a great book that combines analysis of culture, technology and politics to tell a fascinating story. It goes beyond the story itself and into deeper issues that it raises. It looks at the value of attention as a commodity, the vulnerabilities of global tech platforms to political and national-security conflicts, and the ways governments and corporations grapple with regulating powerful technologies. I took a little while to get into the first fifty pages and then did the next three hundred in a few days. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the politics of social media.
My longer summary:
TikTok's strength was in its algorithm that keeps people in app by catering to their individual tastes. Rather than searching for information, it came to you. In addition, it got a HUGE boost from the pandemic, where its users in the United States increase exponentially.
That's where the trouble begins. The fact that it was so widely used and was a Chinese app made American politicians suspicious of it. The first main concern was that it could gather data on Americans for use by the Chinese Communist Party. This was made more immediate by the promulgation of the 2017 Chinese security law that mandated that all Chinese companies must give all available data to the CCP upon request. This was around the same time as TikTok launched internationally and wasn't targeting it at all, but by 2021, TikTok's success made this an issue. To make things worse, the CCP had recently "disappeared" a few Chinese tech titans for getting too big for their britches. They later reappeared with no explanation and properly chastened. It would hardly be surprising if it did the same thing to Bytedance's founder Zhang Yiming, a Chinese citizen and, at the time, resident. He later stepped down as Bytedance's CEO but maintained control through "super-voter shares". He also hired a Singaporean, Shao Zi Chew, as TikTok CEO and moved the headquarters there. These were done to placate Americans concerned about data security, but because Zhang remained in charge, he was still vulnerable to extortion from the CCP. Even if he were outside of the country, the CCP has been known to abduct family members of dissidents who live abroad to quell their activities. It is worth noting that Shou testified that if Americans were really worried about their data, they wouldn't allow companies like Meta to sell it to the highest bidder, regardless of nationality. It was a fair argument.
The second problem was the fear that the algorithm could be manipulated to influence young American minds. The algorithm was controlled by Chinese citizens, so they would have little ability to resist CCP pressure to adjust it. TikTok lobbied furiously that it would never do such a thing. It worked for a while and early attempts to ban it failed. One reason was when Shou testified before a House committee, several members embarrassed themselves with a lack of technical and geographic knowledge. It was a little embarrassing for Americans, but another bill was written and passed. The earlier bill gave the president sweeping powers, but the one that ultimately passed (PAFACA) was tailored specifically at TikTok with very limited presidential discretion. It was signed into law and came into effect the day before Biden left office.
After the US Supreme Court upheld the PAFACA on the issue of surveillance and date (it made no ruling on the issue of potential Chinese propaganda), TikTok changed its approach and started sucking up to Trump. While running, Trump had said that he would save TikTok and he hated that banning TikTok would benefit Meta and Zuckerberg, so this wasn't the toughest sell for TikTok's PR team. It worked and Trump said he would not enforce the ban of 75 days. The number seemed arbitrary because PAFACA allowed for a single extension if a deal to sell TikTok was imminent. The problem with Trump's decision is that it had no legal weight and if the next president tried to collect the fines due, Meta and Oracle would go bankrupt. Nevertheless, TikTok continued its schmoozing by publicly thanking Trump on the app so that it is now running as profitably as ever.
October 3, 2025
This book operates on a troubling double standard. It treats the pro-China algorithm on TikTok as a form of manipulative propaganda that threatens the privacy and security of its 5.4 million American users, going as far as promoting government intervention to curtail its presence in American life. But it refuses to even mention the extensively documented "pro-American" algorithm on American-led social media platforms, despite the fact that the existence of any kind of "pro-country" content – no matter Chinese or American – is a form of bias, and should be avoided if the author values neutrality. Such pro-American social media policies can been illustrated by their differing treatment of the state media between Western countries and China, with Chinese state media being forced to bore labels of “state media” on its account pages, but forms of Western government-funded media such as ABC or the BBC, not being required to this feature. The pro-Western slant within the Western social media can be further illustrated by the case of Nathan Rich’s account being censored in 2019 on the basis of vaguely worded community guidelines, which the YouTuber accuses the platform of arbitrarily interpreting.
What is important to remember, is that this double standard, even if dressed in concern, is still a form of manipulation. The only thing is, is that this double standard has managed to so thoroughly infiltrate the Western psyche, that most people don’t consider it to be logically flawed. They instead regurgitate the positions with anti-China bias as a universal law, the same way they believe that the apple fell from Newton’s tree because of gravity. The view that we're the good guys, and the countries that don't share our political systems, are bad. The view that our war in Iraq with 100,000 casualties is a “disaster,” but China’s war on Uyghurs with zero documented deaths is a systemic genocide akin to the Holocaust. And anyone that dares to disagree? They will be subjected to the punishment of character assasination. They’ll accuse you of being brainwashed. They’ll accuse you of being “pro-China,” an accusation which assumes solidifies my argument that there is inherent negativity to China. And if you make this argument while having a Chinese last name like I do, they'll say you’re a "spy."
Absolute disgusting trash. I'd take TikTok over this anti-China racist garbage any day. That basically sums up my opinion of this book.
What is important to remember, is that this double standard, even if dressed in concern, is still a form of manipulation. The only thing is, is that this double standard has managed to so thoroughly infiltrate the Western psyche, that most people don’t consider it to be logically flawed. They instead regurgitate the positions with anti-China bias as a universal law, the same way they believe that the apple fell from Newton’s tree because of gravity. The view that we're the good guys, and the countries that don't share our political systems, are bad. The view that our war in Iraq with 100,000 casualties is a “disaster,” but China’s war on Uyghurs with zero documented deaths is a systemic genocide akin to the Holocaust. And anyone that dares to disagree? They will be subjected to the punishment of character assasination. They’ll accuse you of being brainwashed. They’ll accuse you of being “pro-China,” an accusation which assumes solidifies my argument that there is inherent negativity to China. And if you make this argument while having a Chinese last name like I do, they'll say you’re a "spy."
Absolute disgusting trash. I'd take TikTok over this anti-China racist garbage any day. That basically sums up my opinion of this book.
January 17, 2026
TikTok And The Architecture Of Influence
(A Book Review, 8.5/10)
I never used TikTok. I walked away from Facebook and Instagram years ago. These days, I stay mostly on LinkedIn and Goodreads, partly because I’ve seen how easily attention gets shaped by systems that feel harmless on the surface.
Emily Baker-White’s Every Screen on the Planet looks at what happens when platforms grow large enough to stop reflecting culture and start structuring it.
TikTok now sits inside a long standoff between China and the United States. The language is about values, governance, and national interest. The reality is about who gets to set the defaults for how hundreds of millions of people spend their time, form opinions, and absorb information.
When platforms grow, they stop reflecting culture and start steering it.
The same pattern is unfolding in artificial intelligence. Tools that shape how people learn, work, and make decisions are built around commercial and strategic priorities.
For leaders, the real risk isn’t the technology. It’s assuming neutrality where there is design.
What feels natural is often just what we’ve been guided toward.
#Leadership #Technology #DigitalPower #AI #HumanBehaviour #Media
(A Book Review, 8.5/10)
I never used TikTok. I walked away from Facebook and Instagram years ago. These days, I stay mostly on LinkedIn and Goodreads, partly because I’ve seen how easily attention gets shaped by systems that feel harmless on the surface.
Emily Baker-White’s Every Screen on the Planet looks at what happens when platforms grow large enough to stop reflecting culture and start structuring it.
TikTok now sits inside a long standoff between China and the United States. The language is about values, governance, and national interest. The reality is about who gets to set the defaults for how hundreds of millions of people spend their time, form opinions, and absorb information.
When platforms grow, they stop reflecting culture and start steering it.
The same pattern is unfolding in artificial intelligence. Tools that shape how people learn, work, and make decisions are built around commercial and strategic priorities.
For leaders, the real risk isn’t the technology. It’s assuming neutrality where there is design.
What feels natural is often just what we’ve been guided toward.
#Leadership #Technology #DigitalPower #AI #HumanBehaviour #Media
December 19, 2025
I thought this would be great.It starts out ok. Zhangyiming,yet another weird communications company,who doesnt even enjoy watching movies decides to jump into the attention economy by first buying Musically and then using his For You algorithm he gradually pulled people away from FB,Instagram and Twitter,because Tik Tok was fun and not political. Then the jerks in Washington tried to say Tik Tok was a security risk. The risk is that this Chinese app might not push American values and Democracy.People that sing and dance dont care about such boring nonsense. Leave to the US to try and block the app and then have Donald Trump there claiming to be it's savior. Now your data is in Singapore for some reason. After nine hours of listening nothing makes any sense in this book about the decline of a once great app now ruined by politics.They should label all of them anti-social media. Maybe Tik Tok should ban all politics and let creators sing and dance. The fossils in the US and BJ have no idea how it's possible for anyone poor to actually have any fun. They only want money for doing next to nothing. There are many better books on current technology.
October 25, 2025
Initially I thought why read this -- the story is incomplete. However, it's far more interesting that I thought possible. It integrates technology, business and government policy in an almost seamless narrative. At times one can get lost in the minutiae but it's worth ploughing through. There is a legitimate criticism to make of her far more harsh treatment of Chinese policy than US policy when its quite self-evident that TikTok is seen by many politicians in the US as a company to manipulate for both profit and message.
November 23, 2025
“Every Screen on the Planet” is a good, thorough overview of TikTok over the years, which is important both technologically and geopolitically. Baker-White left many questions unanswered but so much is still unknown that I would be wary of an author who didn’t.
I do wonder who the target audience is, as most people who care enough about the subject to finish a book on it have likely been following a lot of the story’s happenings in the news. That was the case for me and I skipped a few parts, but overall I still got a lot out of it and am glad I picked it up.
I do wonder who the target audience is, as most people who care enough about the subject to finish a book on it have likely been following a lot of the story’s happenings in the news. That was the case for me and I skipped a few parts, but overall I still got a lot out of it and am glad I picked it up.
January 7, 2026
This woman clearly knows her stuff on tiktok!!
I thought this book was an excellent history of the coming of age of tiktok, and how it became one of the most important and influential platforms for young people in the past couple of years, along with the dangers behind it. I deleted my tiktok over a year ago, but I never realized how the data collection system actually functioned and how it could hurt users in the long run.
I thought this book was an excellent history of the coming of age of tiktok, and how it became one of the most important and influential platforms for young people in the past couple of years, along with the dangers behind it. I deleted my tiktok over a year ago, but I never realized how the data collection system actually functioned and how it could hurt users in the long run.
October 18, 2025
very thorough documentation and reasoning.
November 3, 2025
4.5 Stars.
It was very thorough.
It was very thorough.
November 6, 2025
I did not finish. I probably got about 35% into this and just didn’t care.
November 12, 2025
Nothing groundbreaking here
December 3, 2025
The early part is good
But then it's just a US regulation story, not much in it
But then it's just a US regulation story, not much in it
December 9, 2025
Some interesting reporting but not anything new of significance of what even I knew about the legal maneuvering.
December 31, 2025
3.75 ⭐️
I wasn’t the biggest fan at the start but later became very invested and even ended up touching on some of the points raised here in one of my university essays
I wasn’t the biggest fan at the start but later became very invested and even ended up touching on some of the points raised here in one of my university essays
January 19, 2026
I mean, if you were even passively following along with these events as they were happening not four years ago, then this book won't offer much new insight.
January 22, 2026
Very good book. Lots of interesting and well-researched content. An illuminating look at the politics of international tech, too. Definitely recommended.
February 5, 2026
Increasingly engaging and unnerving
February 6, 2026
Too much minutiae for me. Hard to trudge through but really interesting story.
January 3, 2026
Not gonna lie, one review made me laugh and made the point the book was making. People are very susceptible to propaganda
Super interesting book, fair warning though by the end it gets pretty technical at times. Thinking that China wouldn't use a super popular social media app as a soft power weapon are idiots (I'm not sorry because it's true). We all think we're smarter than that, but truth is, we're not. What about American social media apps you may ask? Well it's bad when they do it too, and there is a good reason they try to make the EU (I'm live in the EU) cave because they really hate regulations. Personal data is the new oil, it's good to be aware of it.
Super interesting book, fair warning though by the end it gets pretty technical at times. Thinking that China wouldn't use a super popular social media app as a soft power weapon are idiots (I'm not sorry because it's true). We all think we're smarter than that, but truth is, we're not. What about American social media apps you may ask? Well it's bad when they do it too, and there is a good reason they try to make the EU (I'm live in the EU) cave because they really hate regulations. Personal data is the new oil, it's good to be aware of it.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews