They are/were planning to IPO, and their financial will be published so I doubt the conspiracy theory. I've used the original TikTok(Dou Yin), it is super addictive, even my parents fall into that. They do a very good job in terms of engaging both the viewer and content producer(profit cutting etc.)

In my opinion, are still "evil" in terms of hijacking our brain, but I am a bit fed up with those prevailing political prejudice nowadays for anything related to China.