WHERE* TIKTOK WHIRLS: '' LESSONS '' GLOBAL ESSAY

! O' DEAR ! : TIKTOK FIGHT is snaking around the world. This master app has waged a big battle in the U.S., but it has sparred in at least 20 countries.

RUSSIA fined TikTok for not removing prohibited content. The results of a presidential election in Romania were thrown out over concerns the app had been used to spread foreign influence.

ALBANIA banned TikTok for a year following the stabbing death of a teenager by another one after the two quarreled online.

'' Either TikTok protects the children of Albania,  or Albania will protect its children from TikTok,'' the prime minister, Edi Rama said on X.

THAT was all in just the last month.

And one last Friday in the United States, where about 150 million people use the app, TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, were scheduled to ask the Supreme Court to strike down a law that would force the app to be sold or banned.

TikTok has confronted legal and political scrutiny around the world in recent years,  facing outright or partial bans in at least 20 countries, as governments have grown alarmed by its ties to China and its wide influence, especially among young people.

Despite the mounting scrutiny, TikTok remains incredibly popular worldwide. More than a billion people use the app every month.

TikTok's novelty comes from its proprietary algorithm, which recommends a constant stream of content, mostly short videos, calibrated to keep people scrolling.

ByteDance pioneered the technology in 2016 with TikTok's sister app, DOUYIN, which has become one of China's most popular apps and drives the majority of the company's revenues.

ByteDance knew it could be a hit overseas and launched TikTok in 2017.

But as TikTok's algorithm captured attention spans around the world, it alarmed lawmakers, who say TikTok has quickly turned from a domain of cat videos and dance trends onto a potentially disruptive social, political and economic force.

Officials from Montana to New Zealand have warned that TikTok could be used to incite violence, spread false information and worsen mental health.

This Master Essay Publishing '' with all INSIGHTFUL Lessons for !WOW! '' continues.  The World Students Society thanks Meaghan Tobin.