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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Isabel O'Brien

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

historical ruins on a hill
TikTok’s emissions are greater than that of the country that gave us democracy and gyros. Photograph: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images

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 gasoline-powered car each year.

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.

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