Because their algo is really, really good. Scary good. And it had a ridiculous amount of money funding the marketing machine behind it to onboard users. US sta

Because their algo is really, really good. Scary good. And it had a ridiculous amount of money funding the marketing machine behind it to onboard users. US startups don't have access to that kind of capital, and even if their algo is better than tiktok, users make or break it, so they can't really get off the ground. I'd say the closest idea is snapchat, and, that was/is massively hampered by the semi-slimy reputation it has. Sure it's profitable, but, had it never been used to send lewd images among college kids, it could very well have been as big as tiktok.