Opinion | Hey TikTok, it’s been a year. Now it’s time to come back to Hong Kong

Developer ByteDance withdrew the app from the city after the national security law came into force, in what analysts say might have been a bid to stave off Trump-era scrutiny

But US President Biden’s executive orders dropping bans on TikTok and WeChat are a signal that antagonism from Washington may be over

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The US review of foreign apps is likely to be an exercise based on facts, in contrast with Trump-era bans. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS

Published: 9:00am, 11 Jun 2021Updated: 9:09am, 11 Jun 2021

It’s been almost a year since I was on TikTok, the world’s most downloaded app, which has become the place to be seen and heard on the internet.

The short-form video app, as those of you on it will know, is deeply addictive with its supply of choreographed dances, animal videos, and the occasionally clairvoyant, straight-to-camera wisdom offered by its mostly Gen Z and millennial users.

Go deeper, and you will find yourself inundated with all sorts of viral challenges and trends. Perhaps you might be interested in “dry scooping” – when a person eats pre-workout powder without diluting it with water. Don’t ask me why they are doing it – and by the way, doctors say the act could be dangerous.

Apart from such frivolity, TikTok – like other social media platforms – can be a handy listening tool too.

When Singapore’s dormitory-dwelling migrant workers were put under strict Covid-19 lockdown this time last year, the TikTok videos they created from their 12-person rooms offered insight on how they were overcoming maddening boredom.

So you get my drift – this is the app of our times and everyone who’s cool is on it. Now can we please bring it back to Hong Kong?

TikTok, developed by Beijing-based ByteDance, has been unavailable in this city since last July, when the national security law (NSL) came into force and raised questions about whether authorities would be able to compulsorily obtain user data.