Is TikTok getting banned?
Maybe, but only in the United States. The US is set to ban the app on the 19th January unless the Supreme Court rules it unconstitutional at the eleventh hour. This has come into place over concerns around Chinese state security using the app (through parent company ByteDance) to harvest data from American citizens. The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA)” was intended to force ByteDance to sell the app to a US or US-allied competitor, but this has not happened. Given this, it looks likely that the ban will come into place this weekend.
Surely the app won’t just stop working?
Kind of. The US will likely force app stores to stop carrying the app and could go so far as to order a block on the servers themselves from being accessed through US ISPs. Naturally there is an easy workaround. US-based users could simply purchase a VPN to pretend to be in another country and continue to access the service, but this would come with some risks and may not be a reliable connection.
What are US TikTokers doing about this?
Many have attempted to punish the US Government by jumping on another Chinese app “Red Note” (technically “Xiaohongshu” or “Red Book” would be more accurate) to post the same content they would usually post on TikTok. The influx of US TikTok “refugees” (as many users have called themselves) has been greeted warmly by Chinese Red Note users; many have joined in the joke by pretending to “spy” on US users’ feeds, while some have used this as an opportunity to reach new audiences: subtitling their videos in English or dubbing over audio to make their content more accessible.
Is the TikTok ban therefore doomed?
It remains to be seen. This is by far the most popular mainstream platform to be banned outright by a western country. It is likely that the ban will be largely unenforceable given the hundreds of workarounds available, but casual users will simply give up if the app proves challenging to access. Although amusing, the Red Note exodus is unlikely to result in similar user levels as TikTok, meaning the US TikTok audience will likely splinter across copy-cat US-based apps like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.
The Trump administration may look to repeal this ban, but by then the damage may be done to the app’s audience in the US and therefore interest in its reactivation could dwindle.
What should I do if I am advertising to US audiences through TikTok currently?
The ban will likely make this impossible and therefore you will need to look to a mix of alternative platforms to reach the same user demographics and interest groups as TikTok currently hosts. PLMR’s digital and social media team would be delighted to answer any questions around this ban and provide advice on how to reach US users across a range of platforms. For more information, email us at info@plmr.co.uk.
