Google, which was founded in 1998, generally is the most popular web application visited each year. In 2020, Google was the most visited web service, followed by Facebook and Microsoft. But this year, another popular web application surpassed Google for the No. 1 spot in 2021.
In 2021, TikTok surpassed Google as the most popular site people visited, according to data from web security company Cloudflare. The top ten sites, in order, are TikTok, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, Twitter, and WhatsApp.
In 2020, TikTok ranked seventh on the list as visits to the site skyrocketed during the COVID-19 lockdowns. In late 2020, Netflix ranked higher on the list at No. 5. Also in 2020, Instagram made the cut at No. 10, though it did not make the cut this year.
“2021 told a different story,” Cloudfare stated in a post. “It was on February 17, 2021, that TikTok got the top spot for a day. Back in March, TikTok got a few more days and also in May, but it was after August 10, 2021, that TikTok took the lead on most days. There were some days when Google was #1, but October and November were mostly TikTok’s days, including on Thanksgiving (November 25) and Black Friday (November 26).”
In June, I covered how President Biden repealed and replaced former President Trump’s ban on TikTok in the United States. Biden issued an Executive Order that would require the U.S. Department of Commerce to review apps from foreign adversaries and take action if an app poses a security threat.
During Trump’s presidency, he sought to ban both TikTok and WeChat in the United States due to links between the apps with the Chinese government. In Trump’s order, he stated the following:
"TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”
Biden’s order requires the U.S. Department of Commerce to review apps from foreign adversaries and take action if an app poses a security threat. And according to Cloudflare’s 2021 data, TikTok is available and widely popular in the United States.
