US Tiktok Users Scramble, Despair as Bytedance Waves the ‘White Flag’

Reuters

11:50 JST, January 16, 2025

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Disappointment, denial and confusion flooded U.S. TikTok on Wednesday upon hearing the news that Chinese owner ByteDance planned to shut off the app for its 170 million U.S. users by Sunday, seemingly throwing in the towel on efforts to keep the popular video-sharing platform going.

Users who have amassed followings and careers on the app hoped for months that TikTok would find a way to avoid a U.S. ban passed into law in 2023. But resignation and anger have begun to set in, with Jan. 19 just a few days away.

“TikTok signaling that white flag is very discouraging and very sad,” said Joonsuk Shin, 28, a research manager and content creator based in New York.

Some users called for a boycott of apps like Instagram and Facebook, owned by Meta Platforms and X, owned by Elon Musk, which are expected to pull in advertisers who used TikTok frequently.

“We all need to delete our Facebook, X and Instagram accounts that same day,” one user said.

ByteDance was given until Jan. 19 to sell the U.S. assets of TikTok or face a U.S. ban, following lawmakers’ concerns that the app poses national security risks because China could compel the company to share the data of its U.S. users. TikTok has denied that it has or ever would share U.S. user data.

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have sought to delay the law’s implementation, which they say violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech.

Unless the U.S. Supreme Court decides to halt the ban, people attempting to open the app on Sunday will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the shutdown.

TikTok user Amber Goode, 28, a true crime content creator from Colorado Springs, Colorado, complained about waiting for the Supreme Court to make a decision on the fate of the beloved app.

“Why are they playing with us?” Goode said. “I feel like the government is avoiding giving us the answer they already know.”

The Washington Post on Wednesday reported President-elect Donald Trump is considering issuing an executive order hoping to “save TikTok,” but it is unclear if such an order would circumvent the ban.

Other users started bidding farewell this week, sharing information on where their followers can find them. Many have already decamped to China-based apps like RedNote – using translation services to decipher instructions to sign up, which are in Mandarin.

On Tuesday, users were still hoping for the prospect of a 270-day extension of the Sunday deadline, while some jokingly parroted simple Chinese phrases they picked up on RedNote, leaving TikTokers wondering: “How did everyone learn Chinese in 24-hours?”

Some are scrambling to save their content.

“My daughter passed away in 2023. I’ve been saving all her videos to my phone. I can’t lose those,” one user commented.

Other users thanked ByteDance for “not giving into the bullies” by not waiting for a ruling, while others criticized them for doing exactly that.

“It’s pretty sad because I thought we were making progress,” said former attorney and full-time creator Ishpal Sidhu, 32, who stands to lose close to 400,000 followers and her income on Sunday. She wondered if she would still be paid for her content in January.

Some users outside of the United States were more blunt – celebrating how their algorithms would no longer be dominated by American social media woes.

“Say goodbye to the Americans,” said New Zealand content creator Luke Hopewell. (Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Nia Williams)