- From January 19 TikTok won’t be downloadable in the USA
- The ban comes after the Supreme Court upheld a ruling for the ban
- Updates and bug fixes will also not be available to US users
On January 19 TikTok will no longer be downloadable in the US. The TikTok ban comes after the Supreme Court upheld a ruling to ban the app. The conditions of the ban were related to the sale of the app. If TikTok’s owner ByteDance didn’t sell the app to a non-Chinese company by January 19, it would face a ban. With no sale in sight, it appears the ban will go ahead.
The social media app argued in court that the ban was ‘unconstitutional’, although the Supreme Court dismissed this claim. The proposed ban comes from worries from the US government that data from US citizens could be sold to the Chinese government. This is because TikTok is a Chinese app.
Read More: Is the TikTok Ban Still Happening?
Millions of US users of the app are in mourning. TikTok has given birth to some iconic moments in American pop culture, and with the app gone, a third of Americans and roughly 170 million US users will be affected. Americans are moving to a replacement app in preparation for the ban. Many have joined RedNote, but not everyone is sure what the ban will do to TikTok users. So…what does it mean?
Will TikTok be completely banned?
The ban has been in the works for a while. President Joe Biden signed the law in April 2024 to approve the ban. In short, the app can’t be completely banned per se, but it will block any workarounds or loopholes according to the TikTok ban law.
According to Reuters, “the law targets a wide swath of U.S.-based partners that help bring TikTok to users, rendering most easy workarounds such as using a virtual private network or changing a phone’s country settings moot or difficult to use”.
In layman’s terms, US companies and VPNs will be targeted to prevent US users from accessing the app by changing their location or using a different network. Although it isn’t illegal to use the app if you already have it.
Can users still access the app?
Access to the app will be limited through the TikTok ban. Experts didn’t deny that users couldn’t find a way around the ban though – they said they could access a “web-based version” of the app. However, the features would probably be limited.
Who wouldn’t miss speeding up TikToks to 2x speed?
What does the TikTok ban mean for users?
For US users, there won’t be a way to download TikTok from the app store. The law prohibits app store providers from distributing the app in their stores. Therefore, the App Store, Google, and other stores will be forced to remove the app from their catalog.
Additionally, with the app removed from app stores, users will not be able to access any updates or bug fixes to the app. TikTok updates the app frequently, so no updates means no access to new features or algorithms. This will delay the smooth running of the app for US users.
No New videos
Without updates and a data storage place to hold US TikTok data, new videos become impossible to make and access. According to the app, US TikTok data is stored on the Oracle Cloud system. When distributing the app becomes illegal, Oracle would either need to delete US users’ data or stop storing updated data to stop the flow of new videos.
Loss of income
Undoubtedly, influencers and those who are a part of TikTok’s Creator Fund will lose their income source. However, one of ByteDance’s founders, Zhang Yiming, says they can easily move income to other places. “It’s very easy to take what you’re spending on TikTok and just shift it over to Meta and Google,” Yiming said.
The spending in question refers to what creators could spend on advertisements. Google and Meta have their own programs to pay creators who make money via e-commerce sales and advertisements. Therefore, users can make the switch if they already have an audience on TikTok.
Regardless, the TikTok ban means many users will lose their income source and will have to move to other social media sites. TikTok has estimated the loss in revenue businesses will face if the ban goes ahead.
In a statement, the app said: “Estimates show that small businesses on TikTok would lose more than $1 billion in revenue and creators would suffer almost $300 million in lost earnings in just one month unless the TikTok Ban is halted.”
It’s not looking good guys.
Can Trump stop the ban?
President-elect Donald Trump will take office on January 20, so he may try and stop the ban. The caveat? The TikTok ban goes into effect the day before he’ll be president. Reports suggest Trump is considering delaying the ban once he is in office. He has asked the Supreme Court to delay until he is in office before, although it looks like it’ll go ahead.
Be prepared to say goodbye to TikTok people, because that ban is looming.
