The earnings of the TikTok platform are growing by 60% despite threats from the United States to ban it.

The profits of Bytedance, the owner of the TikTok app, increased by approximately 60% in 2023, signaling its resilience in the face of local economic contraction.

Profits before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) jumped from $25 billion in 2022 to over $40 billion, according to a report from Bloomberg citing internal sources.

The alleged results indicate the company's benefit from the popularity of the short-video app in expanding its activities to international e-commerce and maintaining its global popularity.

While facing an uncertain future in the United States, TikTok's Chinese parent company continues to rake in money and dominate competitors relentlessly. A recent report from Bloomberg stated that ByteDance's profits surged by 60% in 2023 to over $40 billion, compared to $25 billion in 2022, according to sources close to the company.

Despite the slowdown in the Chinese economy, ByteDance has benefited from TikTok's immense global popularity, especially in the United States, with a user base exceeding 170 million. This confirms a study conducted by the Pew Research Center in January, which affirmed that TikTok is the fastest-growing social networking platform in the country.

This marks the first time that ByteDance has surpassed its competitor Tencent in both revenues and profits. Last fall, ByteDance unveiled the TikTok Shop in the United States, allowing influencers and content creators to directly sell products from the app itself. In China, ByteDance's subsidiary app Douyin also introduced new features related to e-commerce and food delivery. The company also relies on its chatbots and language model in hopes of competing with OpenAI and edging closer to its throne.

However, with TikTok's growing influence and usage in the United States, opposition has also swelled. In March, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill giving ByteDance two options: either sell the app or face a permanent ban within the country on the grounds of threatening national security by collecting sensitive information and transferring it to the Chinese government.

The bill received broad bipartisan support, with some members of the Democratic Party specifically noting that working on the bill was a priority, and President Biden stating he would sign the bill if it reached his desk.

If the final step, passing the bill in the Senate, is completed, despite criticisms from free speech advocates and TikTok users, ByteDance faces several major obstacles that prevent the actual sale of its valuable app. The Chinese government has also indicated that it will not allow the forced sale of TikTok. Considering that the app is likely worth tens of billions of dollars, this price is only accessible to a few American tech giants such as Google or Meta, raising concerns about anti-monopoly efforts.

It is worth mentioning that Bloomberg noted that ByteDance's internal figures have not been independently audited and also confirmed that the company declined to comment on the report. However, it seems generally that the company owning TikTok is going through a good period at the moment, despite serious threats of its "cash cow" being banned in the United States in the coming months.