In the less than two years since its worldwide release, TikTok has exploded into a social-media supernova. Originally a home for lip-synching and viral dance moves, it has since transformed into something of an everything-app for Generation Z, a place where many young users talk to their friends, meet new people, discuss politics, follow celebrities, create memes, and generally spend a not-insignificant portion of their waking hours.

With more than 2 billion downloads, it's also become the cornerstone of a growing online empire for its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, which has reportedly been valued at some $150 billion in recent secondary share sales. The future, in many ways, seems limitless.

But that wasn't why TikTok and ByteDance were in the headlines this week. Instead, it was because of the political roadblocks suddenly in their path.

The Chinese government's commitment to the startup scene in recent years has done wonders for many companies. But as those companies go global, their ties to the state come with complications. And that's one of 10 things you need to know from the past week:

TikTok, for its part, denies that it ever has or ever would hand over user data to the Chinese government. The company has also taken recent steps to emphasize its independence.

In May, the app creator plucked Kevin Mayer away from Disney, where he was head of streaming, to be its new CEO. This week, TikTok announced plans to pull out of Hong Kong after China strengthened its grip on the semi-autonomous region. And shortly thereafter, reports surfaced that ByteDance was considering moving TikTok's headquarters out of China to further distance it from the nation.

Like Huawei, Alibaba and other Chinese business giants that have emerged over the past decade, just what sort of influence the state may have over TikTok is difficult to discern. The intricacies of corporate law in the country seem to be murky to many Westerners, particularly legal laymen like yours truly. But despite TikTok's protestations, allegations of censorship and privacy violations have continued to surface.

China's startup scene has long been marked by an unconventional mix of business and politics. Government programs and government-backed investors helped fuel the country's boom, allowing upstarts to rapidly gain ground on established giants from the US and Europe. Now, as these names begin to become truly dominant from a global perspectivetake Huawei's place as a leader in 5Gthe connections between country and company are becoming more controversial, forcing other governments to make uncomfortable choices.

For businesses, the boon of government support can sometimes turn into a burden.

At the same time TikTok reckons with its ties to China, financial markets in the region are going nuts. In Shanghai, the SSE Composite Index is up nearly 19% since late May, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index is up more than 12% over the same span. Against that backdrop, another of the country's tech titans may be considering an IPO.

Ant, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba, is planning a listing in Hong Kong that could occur this year and result in a valuation of more than $200 billion, according to Reuters, although the company denied the report. Valued at an estimated $150 billion in 2018, Ant joins ByteDance as arguably one of the two most valuable VC-backed companies in the world, according to PitchBook data.

Ant, which operates Alipay, has traditionally focused its operations in China. But the business has begun expanding rapidly in recent years, and in the process has encountered its own share of hostility. In 2018, for instance, the US blocked Ant from acquiring money-transfer specialist MoneyGram, citing national security concerns. Bloomberg's report last year that the Chinese government was sending officials to Alibaba and other companies in a bid "to exert greater influence" over the private sector likely didn't assuage such concerns.I'm not here to determine what degree of influence the Chinese government may or may not have over the country's growing generation of tech giants. In some ways, the reality probably doesn't matter as much as the perception. TikTok can hire as many American executives as it wants. It could move its headquarters to Wyoming. But as long as fears remain that data shared with TikTok or Ant is data shared with the Chinese state, the companies will continue to encounter obstacles on their path to global domination.

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10 big things: TikTok, on the clock - PitchBook News & Analysis