Here’s TikTok’s Backup Plan as Ban Looms
By Movieguide® Contributor
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has begun pushing users to another one of its social media sites as the ban on TikTok draws near with little hope for a diversion.
Lemon8, the name of its other social media platform, allows users to post short video clips along with collections of photos similar to Instagram. Furthermore, users can connect their Lemon8 account with their TikTok account, allowing them to transfer over their usernames and followers which enables them to migrate platforms without rebuilding an audience.
“TikTok actually has another backup app. It’s called Lemon8,” a TikTok influencer said in a sponsored post with ByteDance. “It automatically sign you in with your TikTok so you can still keep the same TikTok name and things like that. And it’s supposed to transfer your followers over…Once you add Lemon8, it automatically pops up on your TikTok bio, so that people can just click on it.”
After multiple Congressional hearings in the summer of 2023, Congress voted to ban the app with an overwhelming majority in the spring of 2024. The law gave ByteDance until Jan. 19, 2025, to divest its ownership of TikTok or be banned in the U.S.
Though ByteDance has been adamant that it will not sell TikTok, it has also been positive that the ban will not take place, calling it a violation of its First Amendment rights that the courts will overturn. However, with less than two weeks from the ban’s date of effect, it remains in place.
READ MORE: SUPREME COURT AGREES TO HEAR APPEAL ON LAW BANNING TIKTOK
Nonetheless, the Supreme Court will make a final ruling on the legality of the ban before the 19th. Furthermore, President-elect Donald Trump has shared his sympathy for TikTok, claiming he would reconsider the ban once he was in power to change it. Trump will take office on Jan. 20, leaving at least a one-day window where the app will be banned unless the Supreme Court rules in ByteDance’s favor.
The ban was implemented for the sake of national security as many high-ranking officials in the FBI and the military have shared how China could use the app to influence the American public and garner data on its 170 million U.S.-based users. While this is a matter of the utmost concern, a ban will also impact American small businesses.
“It holds such a significant place in regards to my customer base and how I reach customers that if I lose TikTok, I will lose a large part of my business or I will lose my ability to grow anymore,” said Desiree Hill, owner of Crown’s Corner Mechanic who used TikTok to bring customers in.
Through creators and small businesses who use the app for advertising, TikTok adds an estimated $1.3 billion to the U.S. economy every year.
READ MORE: HOW BANNING TIKTOK WILL IMPACT SMALL BUSINESSES
