A new report from the Reuters Institute Digital News Reports 2023 shows that Kenya is the world’s top TikTok user.

According to the report, Kenya had 54% of TikTok usage for general purposes and 29% for news. Thailand followed with 51% for general use and 30% for news. South Africa came third with 50% for general use and 22% for news and Peru fourth with 48% for general use and 30% for news.

The report also found that TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat users are focus more on celebrities and social media influencers than media companies when it comes to news topics. However, on Facebook and Twitter, media organisations still attract most attention and lead conversations.

TikTok remains the fastest-growing social network, with 44% of users using it, and is popular with 18-24 year olds. The platform is heavily used in parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa.

It was also proved that TikTok audiences avoid important stories such as the cost of living which fall under depressing yet they seek to protect to protect their mental health.

TikTok statistics indicate that entertainment is the most popular content category on the platform worldwide. This particular hashtag has amassed 535 billion hashtag views. The next most popular categories include dance, pranks ,fitness and home renovations.

The Reuters report also suggests that TikTok is gaining ground in the distribution of news, particularly among younger audiences. This is likely due to the platform’s short-form videos, which are well-suited for sharing news stories while Facebook, which has long held the top spot, is losing ground.

TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms as of 2023. The platform has over 1.05 billion active users and  600 million daily active users worldwide with most of the users being young people. The app was Launched in September 2016 by the Chinese startup company Byte Dance with the aim of providing entertainment.