Every Screen on the Planet: The Secret Story of TikTok

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.

© 2025 Macmillan Business (Audiobook): 9781035049301

Release date

Audiobook: October 23, 2025