Following a years-long “tug-of-war” between Washington and Beijing, TikTok has officially secured its future in America.

The short-video app closed a deal yesterday, Thursday, that will allow it to continue operating in the US.

A lot was at stake had the deal not happen, because, as today’s visualisation shows, the U.S is TikTok’s largest market in terms of users. 

To bring things into context, we show the top countries by their TikTok users count. 

The data used for ths explainer comes form Data Reportal. 

TL;DR

• The United States remains the world’s top TikTok market with approximately 136 million users.
• Indonesia ranks second globally with 108 million users, followed by Brazil with 91.7 million users.

Remember that these numbers are estimated based on TikTok Ad Reach figures, which reflect the potential number of users that can be reached through advertisements on the platform.

TikTok Users by Country

Note: Figures are rounded

America: TikTok’s Most Valuable Market

According to the latest data, the United States remains the world’s top TikTok market with approximately 136 million users. 

While ByteDance’s Chinese version Douyin likely has more users domestically, TikTok’s US market represents something far more valuable. 

That is purchasing power and advertising revenue.

The Thursday deal establishes TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, with American and global investors holding 80.1% ownership while ByteDance retains just 19.9%. 

Three managing investors hold 15 percent stakes:

• Cloud computing giant Oracle
• Private equity firm Silver Lake
• Abu Dhabi-based MG

Other investors include Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell’s investment office.

President Donald Trump praised the agreement, crediting Chinese President Xi Jinping “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal.” 

The new structure will secure US user data through Oracle’s cloud infrastructure and retrain TikTok’s content recommendation algorithm specifically on American user data.

Why Losing the US Would Have Been Fatal

The numbers tell the story. 

With over 200 million American users and 7.5 million US businesses depending on the platform, losing the US market would have devastated TikTok’s global advertising revenue regardless of growth elsewhere. 

American users represent TikTok’s most lucrative demographic (not just in volume, but in spending power and brand value).

The US market briefly went dark in January 2025 when the Supreme Court upheld a bipartisan law requiring ByteDance to sell its US operations or face a ban. 

For approximately 12 hours, TikTok was unavailable until then President-elect Trump promised to extend the deadline upon taking office.

Global Leaderboard: Beyond the States

While America dominates, Indonesia ranks second globally with 108 million users, followed by Brazil with 91.7 million users.

The Southeast Asian and Latin American markets are exploding. 

Mexico has 85.4 million users, Pakistan 66.9 million, and the Philippines 62.3 million. 

Russia follows with 56 million users, while Bangladesh has 46.5 million.

Nigeria tops African markets with 37.4 million users, while South Africa has 23.4 million.

Two Apps, Two Worlds

It’s crucial to distinguish between TikTok and Douyin, ByteDance’s Chinese version. 

While they share the same parent company and core technology, they operate on entirely separate platforms with different content, algorithms, and regulatory frameworks.

Douyin serves China’s 1.3 billion internet users under strict government oversight and censorship. 

TikTok serves the rest of the world (approximately 1.6 billion users across over 150 countries) with different content moderation standards.

The US deal creates a third category: TikTok US.

It will operate with American oversight, US-stored data, and an algorithm retrained specifically for American users while maintaining global connectivity.

Sources: 

BBC | Data Reportal | NPR