TikTok row pushes companies in Japan into marketing dilemma

Coca-Cola halts posts while Kao and others heed app's assurance on user data

20200921NY Kishor

Coca-Cola (Japan) stopped posting new content on TikTok in July after its American parent halted social media activity. (Photo by Kishor on Unsplash)

SHUNTARO NIMURA, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- The political friction between the U.S. and China over TikTok raises strategic questions for Japanese businesses that use the popular video-sharing app in advertising to young consumers.

High user engagement is among the platform's greatest strengths. Posts under a popular hashtag may draw over one hundred million views, and brands have seen success with "hashtag challenges" encouraging viewers to upload videos of themselves performing a particular task, tagged with a certain phrase.

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