抖音帝國: TikTok夾在中國與美國之間的商戰野心

by Emily Baker-White, 艾蜜莉．貝克懷特, 馮奕達 (Translator)

15億用戶仍不滿足，他們要「攻佔地表所有螢幕」！
．如何理解TikTok在中、美地緣政治對抗扮演的角色？
．怎樣分析「大到不能禁、大到不能不禁」的兩難？
──《富比士》調查記者深入挖掘的內幕，正在改變世界！
「敢於挑戰全球最危險科技公司的必讀之作！」──《晶片戰爭》作者克里斯．米勒盛讚推薦！
★2025年Amazon網路書店最佳商管書

♪

一家只想遠離政治的影音平台，為何捲入史上最政治化的中美之爭？
橫跨四大洲、訪談150名相關人士、80份內部會議錄音紀錄，
最紮實剖析TikTok抖音崛起、野心與影響力的著作。
談到TikTok抖音，許多人可能會先想到「抖音一響，父母白養」這句警語。這句話反映的是抖音全球超過15億用戶中，極大比例都來自更年輕的世代，而我們擔心他們受到來自中國的資訊影響，或者被中國政府掌握個人隱私。問題是，這間公司最初到底是透過什麼方法，打造出比肩蘋果、Meta的科技帝國，擄獲全世界如此多使用者的心？為什麼地表最有權勢的兩個人，川普與習近平都想要掌控這間公司？這款應用程式安不安全，背後真的藏有中國後門嗎？
為了查證這些問題，《富比士》商業雜誌的資深科技記者艾蜜莉．貝克懷特，根據她過去身為執業律師且多年追蹤報導TikTok抖音的經驗，訪談了超過150位知情人士、蒐羅超過80份內部會議錄音與文件紀錄，寫出這本結合傳記文學筆法與豐富實證資料的報導作品。藉由本書，讀者將能深入認識TikTok抖音團隊與其所處的政治環境，他們如何設計出具有強大吸引力的演算法、如何布局全球戰略，又是如何在中國與美國兩大政治力量之間拉扯與擺盪，做出影響全球無數使用者的重要決策。
我們正處在生成式AI稱霸的關鍵時代，身邊充滿大量使用TikTok抖音的年輕世代。即便是堅決不用TikTok抖音的人，也得理解這個平台的個性與特質，它的起源與演變，如何所向披靡，以及正在往哪裡前進。

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Politics, Audiobook, History, Business, China

243 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2026

About the author

Emily 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.

Reviews

[Tanja Berg · Rating 3 out of 5]

An incredibly boring account of how Tiktok came to be, and its struggles to remain legal in the United States. I do not care about the app, I have never installed it because I do not need one more thing to distract me from actual life. As for the book, we already know that the tech giants are only interested in their own profits and do not give a shit about the rest of us. Of course Tiktok is no different just because it's Chinese. Or worse. It's all the same: a bane on humanity. Can't live with it, can't live without it. Just because technology can be developed does not mean it should be. Seriously!

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

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."

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Fiona]

DNF after chapter 1 cause it’s not telling me anything new.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mir hat „TikTok Time Bomb“ außerordentlich gut gefallen, mit zwei kleinen Haken:

Zunächst einmal finde ich, sofern ich das beurteilen kann, unglaublich gut recherchiert, geordnet und zusammengefasst. Mit der Beharrlichkeit als Investigativjournalistin und gleichzeitig mit beneidenswerter Ruhe erläutert Baker-White, wo TikTok herkommt, wie es aufsteigen konnte und gibt Prognosen, wie es weitergehen könnte. Dabei ordnet sie die Entwicklung der Plattform auch immer wieder in politische Entwicklungen ein (muss sie) und daraus ergibt sich ein schlüssiges Gesamtbild.

Aber.

Erstens finde ich ihre Erklärungen (obwohl schlüssig) oft zu verschachtelt, um sie wirklich zu verstehen. Das Buch ist ganz offensichtlich für eine bestimmte Zielgruppe verfasst: Amerikaner. Das kann man ihr zugutehalten, immerhin ist sie ja selbst Amerikanerin, andererseits hätte ich mich über ein Glossar für die ganzen Instanzen und Abkürzungen des US-amerikanischen Justizsystems wirklich SEHR gefreut.
SEHR.

Zweitens muss ich in diesem Zusammenhang auch anmerken, dass sie einerseits die Politisierung der Plattform durch China und die KPCh scharf kritisiert, eine ähnlich deutliche Kritik an ihrer eigenen Nation und den Umgang der Trump-Administration jedoch umschifft. Sie stellt zwar infrage, wie frei die Meinungsäußerung seit Januar 2025 auf TikTok wirklich noch ist, aber mehr passiert nicht, und das finde ich wirklich schade - wenn nicht sogar kritisch.

Insgesamt jedoch ein wirklich sehr gelungenes Sachbuch zur beliebtesten App unserer Zeit, zu ihren Hintergründen, Erfolgen und Problematiken.

[Matthew Gibb · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Michaela Mnukova · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

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.

[Ray boycott Reading Challenges until they fix app · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sorry, but ex-BuzzFeed staff should be explicitly banned from writing whole books.

I make it a personal policy to not rate essay-style or history nonfiction books until I can verify the information contained therein, as a rating is also an inherent endorsement or indictment of its veracity - unless it's either just that good or otherwise necessary (Jason Reynolds' adaptation of/collaboration with X. Ibrahim's Stamped, which fulfills both of those) or is just that bad (John Green's Everything is Tuburculosis which despite being exhaustingly well-researched on an extremely important issue...is just bad.

You can tell from the rating which one this falls into.

A wishy-washy miss-mash of what can charitably be described as events and headlines smooshed together to meet a word count last-minute high school essay-style (I mean that's basically how BuzzFeed writers operate right there), it's at once PRC apologetic, yet also discomfortably racist and anti-Chinese and Asian, wanting to at once blame the PRC directly for COVID while also excusing the pandemic as something White (or "White") America deserved for sins out of a Putin or Xaiping talking points handbook and also something about spy balloons and "daddy Trump" (and remember this book is actually about freaking social media and TikTok), Baker-White wants to cover every extreme from page to page as if wanting to reach as broad an appeal as possible, while saying not much, in a way only an exceptionally priviledged White woman writing for BuzzFeed can.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author focuses on one person who architected the creation of TicTok. She also includes a few other people, mostly Chinese citizens, who were involved with apps that eventually led to TikTok.

She goes into a lot of detail about ByteDance and TikTok are intricately tied into a database and computer algorithm that are homed in China and thus can be manipulated by CCP authorities. She also discusses some attempts by U.S.-managed TikTok employees to separate data and control channels from Chinese employees. She discusses the pressure put onto ByteDance by U.S. presidents and Congress for such separation.

Finally, there is supposed solution that is now in place in U.S. but she points out that the goal layer out by Congress is not, and cannot, be met.

Well researched and pretty good book. Almost five stars, just a little ways from being a "cannot put the book down" rating that I would look for for a five-star rating. Definitely worth a read, though.

[Juan David Diez Cortés · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es curioso como las empresas solo quieren crecer en ingresos y los gobiernos solo quieren crecer en electores y eso crea el caldo de cultivo perfecto para la manipulación, desinformación, transformación de la verdad y la historia. Como las redes sociales están influyendo en la política (para mal) es algo a lo que no prestamos demasiada atención pero que nos afecta cada día. Es interesante ver la evolución de TitTok como plataforma y las dificultades de satisfacer a dos entidades como el PCC y el GOP. A la vez es frustrante dimensionar lo mucho que hacen los directos para aparentar una cosa distinta a la que son y tomar decisiones sin significado pero hacerles máxima publicidad.
Creo que una reflexión adicional es que es muy difícil querer estar conectado en esta era de redes que solo buscan sacar el máximo provecho de los datos de sus usuarios, por encima de leyes, estándares morales y principios civiles.

[H Wesselius · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

“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.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Carly Waldman · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 Star (I received an e-audiobook arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

I know the is a non fiction book, but the writing style seemed a little bland and I was listening to it while doing admin tasks at work. Even then I was having trouble not falling asleep. I appreciate being sent the audiobook but unfortunately I could not bring myself to pick up/listen to this book. It's a DNF for me.

[Michael Boehm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting run-through of Tik Tok and the legal troubles that ByteDance and the CCP found themselves in during the early 2020s. Was pretty drab at some points and seemed to be over-inflated with filler, but overall I enjoyed getting more information about an experience I remember living through.

"Senator, I am Singaporean" !!!

[Dr G · Rating 5 out of 5]

very thorough documentation and reasoning.

[fleegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars.
It was very thorough.

[Todd Katz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not finish. I probably got about 35% into this and just didn’t care.

[Shawn Gerard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing groundbreaking here

[Richard FitzGerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

The early part is good
But then it's just a US regulation story, not much in it

[Joshua Riddell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting reporting but not anything new of significance of what even I knew about the legal maneuvering.

[Stephen Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 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.

[Deborah Rocheleau · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book. Lots of interesting and well-researched content. An illuminating look at the politics of international tech, too. Definitely recommended.

[Abigail Rickard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Increasingly engaging and unnerving

[James McGlynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much minutiae for me. Hard to trudge through but really interesting story.

[Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very dry and in the weeds recount of the tiktok ban

[Kevin Lam · Rating 4 out of 5]

其实这本书没有结局，毕竟抖音只是暂时得到喘息，故事还在发展中。但已发生的部分内容，作者确实把抖音问题的来龙去脉写清楚了，作为大陆的读者，感受是美国民主社会被共产主义国家的企业钻了漏洞，过于讲究民主，没有在苗头出现的时候就扼杀在摇篮里，才会造成今时今日的都壹吗困局。