The popular app will reportedly “go dark” if there is no intervention to stop the impending ban. TikTok’s fate is apparently now in the hands of Donald Trump

American TikTokers are crying on their pages in the seeming last days of the hugely popular social media app. After close to five years of what some thought to be fear-mongering over “national security” concerns, TikTok, owned by the Chinese company Byte Dance, faces a very real shut-down in about two days (Sunday at midnight, US time). Many are now mourning the possible loss of a platform that has encouraged bad dancing, shopping ‘hauls’, and clone comparisons as forms of entertainment for fellow TikTok viewers and that have become so much a part of their vapid digital lives. Some are in tears because of potential loss of income. Many influencers use no other app to share their empty, even absurd, contents. In the US, the world for so many—estimated to be half their population—will dim, just as TikTok will potentially go dark.

Fashion brands that use TikTok for whatever message and content that they deliver have mostly been silent on the fate of the platform in the US. While the luxury industry was slow to embrace TikTok, it did not take them too long to use it the way they do as with other social media. Back in 2020, TikTok even staged its first #TikTokFashionMonth, enticing JW Anderson, Louis Vuitton, even Saint Laurent to livestream on their site. So many early adopters of TikTok chose to remain unconcerned with the possibility that Americans could lose the use of their favourite social app. Gucci, one of the early few labels to livestream fashion shows on TikTok shared their Where Light Finds Us campaign in their latest post. Balenciaga, too, marched on with their Lunar New Year greeting of an animation of the old snake game of Nokia phones of the late ’80s that shaped up as the Balenciaga logo. Just as unconcerned was American brands, such as Calvin Klein, Gap, and Michael Kors—business as usual, using TikTok more as broadcast media than social.

In the US, the world for so many—estimated to be half their population—will dim, just as TikTok will potentially go dark

Even if left unsaid, brands will likely lose a major marketing platform in the US if TikTok were to close. Many fashion retailers use TikTok to reach the younger customer and a ban would necessitate new strategies to connect with this demographic that prioritises fun. Some marketers fear that the TikTok ban may slowdown style cycles. That could, conversely, be a good thing if the speed at which trends emerge and spread is getting too out of control, encouraging mindless adoption and indiscriminate spending. But perhaps most disconcerting for many is the possibility of the disruption of the influencer economy. Fashion influencers who use TikTok avidly rely on it for brand partnerships and, hence, income. TikTok no more could break their rice bowls, even impacting the reach that they have taken years and many inane reels to build.

And users of TikTok appear to be the most affected. Many have been seeing crying on the platform to express their dismay at how the platform was basically forced into non-existence. One user, Emily Senn, said two days ago on TikTok, as she sobbed: “And to the US government, I’m never forgiving you for this. And I’m never going to trust you ever again.” Kudasai girl Devin Halbal, too, weighed in: “Why are they banning TikTok??? America is so wild for this LMAOA.” A common refrain, “words aren’t enough for the love we have for TikTok”, is repeatedly heard, pointing to one reality: In terms of “national security” (the primary reason for TikTok’s fate), affection isn’t enough to save what is deemed a threat. It is often said that TikTok has been most successful with the young. “The app feels like Gen-Z’s family group chat,” one user said, with a tinge of regret in her voice. For many, in fact, TikTok is a “community” in which there is common cultural currency, especially for those who live digitally and are unnoticed offline and those with a voracious appetite for anything shared on the platform.

TikTokers reacting passionately… and tearfully

So distraught these influencers and followers are and so unwilling they are to let their online content and way of life be impacted that they have quickly “migrated”, ironically to other Chinese-owned platforms, namely 小红书 (xiaohongshu or Little Red Book), known in the US as Red Note, and the not-as-widely adopted Lemon8, interestingly a Byte Dance product that is modelled after the former. The Chinese, seemingly unconcerned with the American values that could spread across their nation, appear to welcome the newcomers from the land of Space X. China Daily even described the fresh interest in other Chinese social media platform that isn’t TikTok as how it “has opened up unexpected avenues for cultural exchanges between Chinese and American users”. Newcomers to Red Note were surprised to see how “sophisticated” the platform is and how “effective” the results of the algorithms are.

TikTok’s fate hinges on a law—signed by outgoing president Joe Biden—with two options for the social media: ban the app or force ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American firm, namely those with app stores, such as Apple and Google. A day ago, Supreme Court justices upheld the ban in a unanimous decision. US lawmakers had cited “national security threats” as key reasons behind their preference for TikTok to not exist in its present form. A 90-day extension to avoid the ban is in the cards. Reports have emerged that Mr Biden and his administration would not act on the ban or fault any company for not staying on the right side of that law. Apparently, the fate of TikTok will be in the hands of Mr Trump, whose second inauguration on 20 January will be attended by TikTok CEO, Singaporean Shou Zi Chew, who would be seated among other tech biggies such as Elon Musk and the president elect’s new ardent supporter Mark Zuckerberg. Mr Shou had thanked Mr Trump—on TikTok, of course—for the “commitment” to work with the company and to seek a solution that would not remove the app in the US. He seemed upbeat. National security threats might have dissipated.

Update (19 January 2025, 09:00): Donald Trump told NBC News that “the 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate.” He added that the decision would probably be made on Monday once he assumes power

Illustrations: Just So