TikTok is the most opaque social network: it does not publish data on its emissions. It's more polluting than the rest of social media. TikTok says it is committed to becoming "neutral carbon" by 2030.
Greenly, one of the consultants responsible for carbon accounting, explained that the annual carbon footprint of the TikTok application is higher than that of Greece in its new study on the environmental impact of social networks.
In 2023 Greece's annual carbon emissions amounted to 51.67 million metric tons and, according to the report, TikTok's annual global carbon footprint could be around 50 million metric tons of CO2e. However, this calculation is only an estimate, as it does not include other sources of emissions from the platform, such as the emissions associated with office spaces and the movement of staff. In CO2 emissions figures, a TikTok user pollutes on average the same as a petrol car at 198 km.
According to the study, TikTok users are, after YouTube, the ones that generate the most emissions per minute on social networks: A minute of TikTok consumes an average of 2,921 grams of CO2e; on YouTube, 2,923 grams; and Instagram, 2,912 grams.
Greenly has shown that TikTok’s carbon footprint is substantially higher than Instagram’s, even though Instagram has almost twice as many users as TikTok. The reason is the addictive character of the TikTok platform, where the average Instagram user spends 30.6 minutes a day on the app, while the TikTok platform spends 45.5 minutes a day on scroll. As Greenly’s director Alexis Normand explains, “TikTok’s dependence causes people to generate more and more discharges individually.”
Lack of transparency
TikTok is the most opaque social network in terms of emissions, as it has not published public data on it. However, according to him, he has in place a project to turn it into neutral carbon in 2030 and improve overall data security.