TikTok-related spending contributed an estimated $1.2 billion to the country's GDP last year and supported nearly 10,000 jobs, according to a new report from economic consultancy Infometrics.But not everyone is convinced.The report, commissioned by TikTok, was based on surveys of 1000 adult weekly users and 700 business decision-makers, carried out by consumer research firm Nielsen.It found about 309,000 New Zealand businesses were using TikTok at least monthly to promote themselves, while 671,000 users reported spending money each month after seeing products, services or places on the platform.Infometrics chief executive and principal economist Brad Olsen said the scale of business use was notable, particularly because firms did not necessarily need large followings or expensive production to reach customers.Brad Olsen.LDR"The opportunity here is that as a business you can put something up and once it goes viral, once you manage to get that connection going, it spreads," Olsen said.He said that reach was translating into reported business outcomes, with surveyed firms reporting a median sales uplift of between 20 and 30 percent from their TikTok activity.The report put the average self-reported sales uplift at about 24 percent.The report said TikTok-related off-platform spending was worth an estimated $1.2b in GDP, while business promotional activity on the platform contributed a separate estimated $515m in GDP.Infometrics said the two figures should not be added together because some spending by users would overlap with the sales gains reported by businesses.The report also found younger businesses were more likely to use the platform, with 63 percent of firms less than five years old saying they used TikTok monthly, compared with 21 percent of businesses operating for more than 16 years.Infometrics said the results were based on survey responses and economic modelling, including self-reported spending and sales uplift figures, rather than direct measurement of transactions.But Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the report needed to be taken "with a sack of salt" because it was assuming that the activity would not have happened elsewhere if TikTok was not present in New Zealand.It had also not tackled the tax questions around multinationals making money in this country,"I think it's that essentially the story is, is it net new additional spend? And the answer is no."