US TikTok ban draws closer: first influencers promote alternative accounts

In the US, operators of accounts with a large reach on TikTok have started to point their followers to their alternative accounts on other social networks. The news agency Reuters has observed this and sees a change in the approach to the threatened ban of the popular video app. Although the Chinese company ByteDance's platform is used to threats from politicians, a ruling that could result in the app being shut down in just a few weeks is likely to change assessments of the current threat.

Initial preparations for the move

The news agency quotes an influencer who has almost 500,000 followers on TikTok and says: "For the first time, I realize that much of what I've worked for could simply be lost." Like him, more and more are preparing for "the worst" and promoting other channels on YouTube, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and Threads. More and more expressed doubts that TikTok will survive, even if the platform has not yet exhausted all legal remedies. Others, however, would wait for more concrete consequences before taking action regarding a platform change. The development underlines once again how dependent you become when you rely on a closed platform.

The reason for the change of opinion and the emerging concerns is a decision by an appeals court on a law that would effectively enforce a ban on TikTok. If ByteDance does not sell its US assets to TikTok by January 19, one day before the end of Joe Biden's term of office –, the app would be banned from the app stores and thus effectively banned. The reason for this is the concern that Chinese authorities could intercept the app data and thus jeopardize US national security. However, ByteDance is optimistic that the US Supreme Court will overturn the decision. The Chinese company is receiving support from US civil rights organizations.

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(mho)