In what month and year did TikTok report reaching one billion users?

TikTok reported reaching one billion users in September 2021.

TikTok announced the milestone in September 2021, marking a dramatic rise for a platform that had launched internationally only a few years earlier. The figure referred to users of TikTok worldwide, while Douyin remained ByteDance’s separate China-focused service. TikTok’s growth was powered by short, music-centered videos and a recommendation feed that quickly matched viewers with content.

The milestone is sometimes confused with other TikTok statistics. In February 2019, TikTok and Douyin together reached one billion downloads globally, excluding Android installations in China; that was a download figure, not one billion users. TikTok also reported nearly 800 million monthly active users worldwide in July 2020, another different measurement.

TikTok’s one-billion-user announcement came after its 2018 merger with musical.ly, which consolidated accounts and helped accelerate its international reach. It also came before later debates over regulation, privacy, and possible restrictions in several countries.