According to data from mobile analytics firm Mobile Index, the short-video platform and its lightweight counterpart, TikTok and TikTok Lite, recorded approximately 4.9 million and 4.8 million monthly active users, respectively, in January.
The combined user base of 9.7 million outpaced Facebook’s 8.6 million monthly active users but remained well behind Instagram’s 20 million users in the country.
TikTok’s growth comes amid renewed scrutiny after South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) disclosed Tuesday that DeepSeek had transferred user data to ByteDance in violation of local privacy laws.
In response, the commission has temporarily suspended new downloads of DeepSeek’s services but has yet to determine how the transferred data was utilized.
The privacy concerns reflect broader international apprehensions surrounding the Chinese-owned platform.
In the United States, where nearly half the population uses TikTok regularly, the platform remains a political flashpoint. While President Donald Trump has extended a previously imposed ban on the app by 75 days, his administration is reportedly pressuring ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations. Prospective buyers are now engaging directly with the White House rather than ByteDance, according to media reports.
Despite these regulatory challenges, TikTok continues to gain traction in South Korea. Both the app maintained strong engagement, consistently drawing more than three million weekly active users in early February.
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