The popularity of Chinese-owned video-sharing service TikTok continues to grow among young people in the United States.

Experts say the service more than doubled its U.S. user base to 37 million in 2019. TikTok is especially popular with teens and young adults.

Young people in China are using the service during the COVID-19 quarantine to stave off boredom and communicate with friends, according to BBC News.

TikTok lets users create and share short videos, many under 15 seconds. The TikTok app offers sounds, parts of songs and special effects to create a video. Some TikTok-based memes go viral. Videos often include popular songs from well-known artists, and TikTok has even helped launch the careers of new music stars.

TikTok is considered a competitor to video-sharing app Snapchat and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. Snapchat and Instagram are heavy on photos and videos featuring fashion, pop culture and humor.

Last year, TikTok was only second to WhatsApp in downloads from Apple and Google. Research company Sensor Tower estimates TikTok has been downloaded 1.65 billion times.

Major companies use TikTok to reach young people who use little or no traditional media.

TikTok is “where the Gen Z party is. That's where they're all hanging out," Kory Marchisotto, chief marketer for U.S.-based e.l.f. Cosmetics, told The Associated Press. Generation Z, or Gen Z, refers to people born between 1997 and 2012.

Companies appearing on TikTok generate revenue through advertising. Often, the companies create user “challenges” as part of their ad campaigns. In challenges, users are invited to publish their own videos in which they perform similar dance moves. One campaign by e.l.f. Cosmetics, for example, asked people to wink and move their lips while following a song. TikTok users created 3 million videos that received more than 4 billion views.

Sometimes the challenges go wrong.

The popular "skull breaker challenge" on TikTok shows someone tricked into jumping into the air as two people nearby kick the person's feet out from under him. Two juveniles in New Jersey who carried out the viral online prank are facing assault charges, according to prosecutors in New Jersey. The victim suffered a seizure, a brain injury and concussion, according to the Camden County (N.J.) prosecutor's office.

''While the challenges may seem funny or get views on social media platforms, they can have serious and long-lasting health consequences,'' acting county prosecutor Jill Mayer told the AP.

Nonprofit privacy group Common Sense Media has issued guidance for parents. The group notes on its website that many videos appearing on TikTok include offensive language and sexual subjects. The group urges parents to supervise what their children watch on TikTok and suggests the service is more appropriate for users older than 16.

TikTok’s head of creator partnerships, Kudzi Chikumbu, told the AP the company is working hard to make sure the app is a “safe and positive environment.”

Last year, the company agreed to pay the U.S. government a $5.7 million fine for collecting personal information from children under age 13. Since then, TikTok created a separate part of the app that restricts possibly offensive material. The app requires users to be 13 years old, although it does not confirm users’ ages. TikTok says it does remove what it calls “wrongly created” accounts if they are reported by other users.

While TikTok has continued to grow since its U.S. launch in 2017, it has also received media attention for being the first Chinese-owned social media service to rise to major success in the U.S.

U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about TikTok’s collection of user data and the possibility that the company could be sharing information with the Chinese government. In addition, the lawmakers said the app presents national security risks and could be used to censor material for users in the U.S.

TikTok has said it does not share information with the Chinese government and denies the app carries national security risks or is used to censor information.

Concern led the U.S. government to launch a national security investigation into TikTok. Also, the U.S. Department of Defense warned last December of security risks linked to the video-sharing service and urged its employees not to use the app. The warning led several military services to ban the use of TikTok on government devices.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Ruth Chane, a computer science major from Ethiopia, writes about her experiences settling into student life at Whitman College in the U.S. state of Washington.

"The community at Whitman College made sure I felt welcomed even before I stepped foot on campus," she says.

Read her essay here.

In The Student Life, the student newspaper for the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five liberal art colleges and two graduate schools in Claremont, California, student Rochelle Lu writes about readjusting to her Shanghai home after spending a semester in the United States.

Read the full story here.

Cedarville University in the U.S. state of Ohio says it’s got more than 140 international students representing 44 countries.

Here, the school interviews Jonathan Sutton, director of international student services. He talks about his job and the opportunities for international students on campus.

Read the full article here.

Morehouse College, a private, historically Black liberal arts college in the U.S. state of Georgia, offers a guide for international students interested in attending the school.

Among the tips to apply and thrive at Morehouse:

• Take advantage of the school’s orientation program
• Turn to the school’s Center for Academic Success for tutoring, support and more
• Immerse yourself in campus life via clubs and societies

Read the full article here.

WASHINGTON — 

The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.

Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.

The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.

"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.

The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.

"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."

The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.

College protests

Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.

During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.

While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.

A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.