TikTok creators send farewell videos to their fans ahead of US ban

With the prospect of TikTok disappearing in the US, creators on the app spent the week sending a heartfelt farewell to their fans.

“I never in a million years thought anyone would ever just care about what I say,” Kimberly Rhoades, a creator of humorous videos, told her 3 million followers on Thursday. “If this app goes away, it was a beautiful, beautiful ride.”

A day later, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 to uphold the law, which requires a forced sale of TikTok by Chinese parent ByteDance or a ban on the app in the United States. The short-form video app that rose to mainstream popularity and changed the way Americans consumed social media while stuck indoors during the pandemic will go dark as soon as Sunday, meaning it could disappear from the web and be removed from app stores powered by Apple and Google.

Congress passed the law, signed by President Joe Biden, citing national security concerns over TikTok’s data collection practices and ties to China.

IN a follow-up video on Friday, Rhoades hummed about 30 seconds of “Taps,” the military song often played at funerals. She ended by saying, “It was an honor to make you laugh.”

TikTok’s fate in the US now rests in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump, who initially advocated a TikTok ban during his first administration but has since flip-flopped on the matter. In December, Trump asked Supreme Court to pause the law’s implementation and give his administration “an opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the issues at issue in the case.”

In a Friday post on his social media app Truth Social, Trump wrote: “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I need time to review the situation. Stay tuned!” TikTok CEO Shou Chew is one of several tech executives expected to attend Trump’s inauguration in Washington, DC, on Monday. In a short video, Chew thanked Trump “for his commitment to working with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available” in the US

Whether or not Trump ultimately finds a way to keep the app alive for American consumers, many TikTok creators have been bracing for an end, asking their fans to find them on other social platforms such as Google’s YouTube and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, CNBC reported previous. RedNote, a Chinese social media app and TikTok look-alike, rose to the top of Apple’s app store on Monday, indicating that TikTok’s millions of users were looking for alternatives.

The creator migration seems to have picked up speed as the ban deadline approached. Influencers like Megan Cruz used their farewell videos as an opportunity to highlight TikTok’s attributes.

“People were engaged with things like BookTok and FilmTok and the idea of ​​being engaged with culture on TikTok because you didn’t have to be a big creator,” Cruz said, in a video posted earlier this week. “There was incentive for people to join the conversation because anyone had the potential to be a leader in a conversation, to make a point that resonated with millions of people.”

The history of TikTok as a viral sensation dates back to 2017, when ByteDance spent about $1 billion to acquire a startup called Musical.ly. ByteDance combined Musical.ly and TikTok the following year.

TikTok began to make inroads in the United States around that time, primarily as an app that young people used for short dance clips and lip sync videos. TikTok’s big breakthrough came during pandemic shutdowns in 2020, when consumers were looking for ways to pass the time and connect with others online.

The app was so successful that Internet giants Meta and Google launched copycat services. Meta introduced Reels to US Instagram users in August 2020 and then added it to Facebook. Google launched YouTube Shorts in the US in March 2021.

Despite the competition, TikTok continued to grow.

TikTok has about 115 million monthly active users in the US, compared to 258 million for YouTube, 253 million for Facebook and 131 million for Instagram, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

Although TikTok lags behind its competitors in the number of users, the Chinese app has become a hub for creators, defined as users with more than 1,000 followers. TikTok has nearly 8.5 million users in the U.S. who fit that category, compared with about 5.2 million on Instagram and 1.1 million on YouTube, according to HypeAuditor, an influencer marketing platform.

Businessman Frank McCourt’s internet advocacy group Project Liberty announced on January 9 that it had submitted a proposal to buy TikTok from ByteDance on undisclosed terms. McCourt told CNBC on Friday that “we are, I think, the only bidder” that meets the necessary criteria to separate the technology from the Chinese algorithm.

If ByteDance decides to sell, potential buyers could have to spend between $40 billion and $50 billion, according to a valuation discretion of TikTok’s US operations from CFRA Research Senior Vice President Angelo Zino.

Some creators who anticipate a shutdown are telling their fans where to find them. Others encourage users to unfollow them on Meta’s services, or encourage them to take a break from social media altogether.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say that once TikTok is gone, you’re just going to cut social media out of your life, and I encourage that — it’s probably going to be really healthy for you,” said Jack Ryan, a creator with 2 million TikTok followers, in a video on Thursday thanked his fans for their support.

“I have an Instagram. I have a significant following on there, but don’t follow me on Instagram,” Ryan added. “Don’t go on there. It’s brain rot. It’s ugly.”

Jonas Gindin, who has more than 400,000 Tiktok followers, said in a video that a year and a half ago he was waiting tables while trying to become an actor in Los Angeles. He didn’t have much luck.

After finding a fan base on TikTok, Gindin said he has been able to produce content full-time on the app.

“If we’re cooked, it’s been a ride, man,” Gindin said. “Every time I see someone comment on something positive, it means the world, bro.”

CLOCK: Up to Apple and Google if they want to keep TikTok in their app stores, says NSA’s Gerstell