TikTok's annual carbon footprint is likely bigger than Greece's, study finds

TikTok's annual carbon footprint is probably larger than that of Greece, according to a new analysis of the social media platform's environmental impact, with the average user generating greenhouse gases equivalent to driving an extra 123 miles in a gas-powered car each year.

- Isabel O'Brien

Estimates from Greenly, a carbon accounting consultancy based in Paris, place TikTok's 2023 emissions in the US, UK and France at about 7.6m metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) - higher than those associated with Twitter/X and Snapchat in the same region.

Greenly's findings placed its carbon footprint just above Instagram's - even though Instagram has nearly double TikTok's user base. The reason behind this lies in the unique addictiveness of TikTok's platform. The average Instagram user spends 30.6 minutes on the app a day. Meanwhile, the average TikTok user spends 45.5 minutes scrolling.

"The whole algorithm is built around the massification of videos," explained Alexis Normand, the chief executive of Greenly. "Addictiveness also has consequences in terms of incentivizing people to generate more and more of a carbon footprint on an individual basis."