TikTok is on the list of the most “dirty” social networks

The Greenly company calculated the carbon footprint that TikTok fans leave by using the application of the same name. As it turned out, “tiktokers” pollute the atmosphere much faster than others.

What else is known

Servers run on electricity, and the longer they are used, the more energy is needed. Its production is not environmentally friendly, so each user of the network leaves a carbon footprint – this is the sum of all greenhouse gas emissions that would not have occurred if the user had chosen to stay offline.

For TikTok, this figure for 2023 in the USA and Great Britain was 7.6 million tons – more than X and Snapchat in the same region. Also, this indicator slightly exceeds the result of Instagram, despite the fact that the latter has almost twice as many users (2 billion). Statistics for the whole world are not named, but according to The Guardian journalists, the amount reaches 50 million tons. For comparison, Greece's CO2-equivalent emission rate amounted to 51.67 million tons.

TikTok users generate more emissions for the reason that they spend longer on the social network. For example, the average Instagram user spends 30.6 minutes a day on the social network, and a TikTok lover – 45.5 minutes. Researchers associate this with TikTok's algorithms, which “delay” users in the application. It also turned out that the average TikTok fan produces 48.49 kg of CO2 equivalent per year. In second place – YouTube with a result of 40.17 kg. And Instagram users were distinguished by a relatively small value – 32.52 kg. This can be compared to the amount of emissions from driving a gasoline car. For a TikTok user, the share of emissions is comparable to covering 197 km per year, YouTube – 164 km, Instagram – 133 km.

But the statistics may change, as the management of TikTok intends to bring the platform to carbon neutrality by 2030. The initiative is called Project Clover. So far, only one data center is ready, which meets the ambitious goals of the developers. It is located in Norway and runs on 100% renewable energy.