Today, social media applications are used not only as a means to communicate but also as a means to exert power. In some cases, it even has gone so far that specific social media applications have been accused of constituting a threat against national security. This is the case with TikTok, today’s fastest-growing social media application in the world. TikTok is a video-sharing platform used by approximately 800 million individuals every month, developed and owned by a Chinese company named ByteDance Ltd.. The purpose of the following study is to explain how a seemingly innocent social media application like TikTok, used by individuals and owned by a private company, can constitute a threat against national security. This is performed by using the term "sharp power". The study concludes that TikTok can be used by the Chinese government to exert sharp power, enabling the state access to the global information environment.

In my thesis, I will answer question of what is sharp power, how China use sharp power and then on 4 cases illustrate that China has different strategies of influence operations. In Japan, respectively Okinawa, China is focusing on their common history and trying to lure Okinawans away from Japan. In South Korea, China exploit Korean economic dependence during the THAAD dispute to their advantage. In Taiwan, thanks to common cultural ties China wants to change everybody mind about Taiwanese "status-quo". In New Zealand, China utilize overseas Chinese community to spread Chinese propaganda. In the end, I will compare each country situation and find out where China's sharp power was effective and where it wasn't.