TikTok quickly gained fame in the international landscape, becoming the top free-to-download app on app stores across several countries, including Thailand, in 2018.
In the same year, US celebrities, such as Tony Hawk and Jimmy Fallon, also started using the app. Some celebrities, such as Justin Bieber and Will Smith, joined later.
TikTok saw this as an opportunity to make its platform a marketing channel. In 2019, TikTok allowed users to embed sales links in videos.
By July 2020, TikTok had 800 million monthly active users in just four years of existence. The figure excludes Chinese users of the app’s local version. So, the real figure is much higher.