Every Screen on the Planet

The global story of the world’s most controversial social media network and the struggle to control it.

TikTok boasts 1.6 billion active users worldwide and wields unprecedented power over our culture. Its crown jewel is the most addictive algorithm ever invented. As a result, it has become a political football all over the world.

In Every Screen on the Planet, Harvard-trained lawyer and investigative journalist Emily Baker-White charts TikTok’s rise – from its Chinese founders’ early ambitions to its emergence as the world’s most valuable startup. She examines its potential value as a surveillance and propaganda tool for strongmen and the huge controversy it has fostered, from India to Washington, DC.

Based on explosive reporting that caused TikTok to track the author and led to an ongoing criminal investigation, Baker-White’s engrossing narrative takes us inside the company as the US government seeks backdoor access to observe and influence TikTok’s data stream and eventually gives the company an ultimatum: divorce from your Chinese founders or be banned. Touching on politics, business and technology, Every Screen on the Planet takes us behind the scenes of TikTok’s incredible growth and its astounding – and ongoing – impact on society.

Author Biography

Emily Baker-White works as a technology reporter for Forbes. She previously covered tech at Buzzfeed News. Before becoming a journalist, Baker-White earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School and practiced criminal defense law, launching a multi-year investigation into police misconduct on Facebook. With her unique mix of legal and tech expertise, she is uniquely situated to cover the intricate landscape of TikTok and ByteDance.