Library Shop SD is thrilled to welcome investigative journalist, Forbes reporter Emily-Baker-White, for her new book Every Screen on the Planet.
Baker-White understands TikTok like few others. A 2024 NYFWA Impact Award winner for her groundbreaking coverage of the platform, her new book details ByteDance’s misuse of surveillance — not only of TikTok users, but also of journalists covering the company, including herself.
“Deeply researched and nuanced in its judgments, this is a must-read account from a heroic reporter who has taken on the world’s most dangerous tech company.” —Chris Miller, author of Chip War
Join us at the Pacific Highlands Ranch Library for an author talk, Q&A and book signing. This event is partially ticketed; a book purchase is required to attend, but a limited number of no-cost RSVPs are available for Library Card holders who intend to borrow the book from SDPL. This is based on an honor system, so please only use one of these limited RSVP spots if you need it. Each ticket purchase includes (1) copy of the book and seats for up to (2) readers to attend the author event. All proceeds support the San Diego Public Library.
Doors will open at 6:45pm, and the event will begin at 7pm. Click through to register to attend and pre-order your copy of Every Screen on the Planet.
About the Book
Emily Baker-White’s engrossing narrative charts TikTok’s rise from obscurity into the world’s most valuable startup, led by its ambitious founder, Zhang Yiming— arguably the father of the modern recommendation algorithm. Zhang’s products reshaped the global internet from a place where you searched for information to one where information came to you. TikTok seemed to know its users in an almost spooky way, provoking wonder and delight. People were hooked. “We intend to become ubiquitous,” a new-hire training video said, to put TikTok “on every screen on the planet.”
But virtually everything about TikTok’s users— their interests, locations, and even their unspoken desires— was accessible to staff in Beijing. After Baker-White, a Harvard-trained lawyer and investigative reporter, revealed that Chinese engineers could access Americans’ private information, a team of employees used the app to track her location and attempt to expose whistleblowers. This incident triggered an ongoing criminal investigation and escalated international tension regarding the app’s ownership.
TikTok was the first Chinese app to become a US juggernaut, and lawmakers soon recognized its potential for surveillance and propaganda— and the threat it might pose in the hands of their rivals. Yet even as hawks in Congress gained support to ban the app, the White House was secretly negotiating for unprecedented control over its information stream. In 2025, when President Donald Trump declined to enforce the so-called ban law, TikTok seemed to complete a miraculous corporate escape. It retained its influence, profits, and power, but now operated at the pleasure of two strongmen: China’s Xi Jinping and Trump himself.
So where does that leave the TikTok user, and our information landscape?
Don’t miss Every Screen on the Planet.
About the Author
EMILY BAKER-WHITE is a technology reporter at Forbes, where her TikTok coverage won the 2024 NYFWA Impact Award and a 2022 SABEW Best in Business Honorable Mention. It has been widely cited by lawmakers, regulators and other news outlets. A Harvard Law School graduate and former criminal defender, she previously led the Plain View Project, an investigation into police misconduct on Facebook, and covered TikTok for BuzzFeed News. She is based in San Francisco.
