On August 6, TikTok was given 45 days to be sold to a US company.
Since July, TikTok users have braced for a threat to ban the ultra-popular, short-lived video app in the United States, with some opening accounts on rival platforms and encouraging their friends to do so. even.
Then early Friday, Reuters reported that the U.S. government was preparing to block new users from downloading the Chinese-owned app from U.S. app stores by September 20. As the news filtered through their social media, the teens greeted her wearily, but without the tears and emotional outpouring expected of TikTok’s 100 million fans, mostly young fans.
“A lot of TikTok-ers aren’t very excited about this,” said Lauren Harrison, a 15-year-old TikTok user from Omaha, Nebraska, with more than 127,000 subscribers on the app.
Like many others, Harrison said she has already opened accounts on other platforms, in preparation for a total ban. She has since deleted these apps from her phone.
“Because TikTok is not gone, I feel like people don’t feel the need to download (rival apps),” she said.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 6 setting a 45-day deadline for TikTok to be sold to a US company, citing national security concerns.
While new US downloads of TikTok will not be allowed as of Sunday, TikTok still has a few weeks to convince Trump to lift his threat to impose a total ban from November 12.
Carter Kench, a 17-year-old from Atlanta, Ga., With 2.4 million TikTok followers, said he was concerned in July when he first heard of the threat of a ban. But in the months that followed, “nothing happened,” he said.
“It’s kind of like the boy who cried wolf,” he said.
Brands that are signing sponsorship deals with big TikTok stars are also disappointed with the ongoing saga, choosing to continue their work on the app until a ban emerges, said Alessandro Bogliari, CEO of The Influencer Marketing Factory, an agency that works with brands and social media. media influencers.
“People are a little confused and bored with all of this drama. They say until something happens let’s just keep going,” he said.
Several videos with hashtags that TikTok users have used to discuss the threat of a ban, including “TikTokBan” and “SaveTikTok”, reached nearly 2 billion views on Saturday. But many of these were posted in July.
“It absolutely tires me out,” said Jen Ruiz, a travel blogger with nearly 131,000 TikTok followers.
A ban on TikTok has been threatened “at least four times,” she said. “How many more?”
TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington on Friday evening challenging the actions taken by the Trump administration.
For users who have racked up huge success on TikTok, “I’m sure for some of them it was judgment day,” said Joe Gagliese, CEO of influencer marketing agency Viral Nation. . Influencers will need to diversify their audience through other apps, he said.
The biggest stars have already mapped out potential exit strategies. Most followed TikTok star Charli D’Amelio with 87.5 million subscribers recently started posting videos to her account on Triller, an American rival of TikTok.
