The end of TikTok in the US: Will it disappear suddenly or will it be a gradual goodbye?

Barring some dramatic turn in the development of events, on Saturday the 19th Tiktok must leave the United States, unless Bytedance – the developer company – sells the application. That has been the order of the country’s Supreme Court and shortly after the inauguration of Donald Trump, who has asked to delay things until his ascension to power, there seems to be no going back.

The northern country has no less than 170 million active TikTok users, many of whom are wondering what will happen once the deadline arrives. Initially, media outlets such as CNN or NPR suggested that the application would continue to work on devices where it is already installed, but a gradual decline will begin in two ways.

• Mira: TikTok would be banned from the US: seven countries where the application is banned

First, application stores such as Google or Apple would have to remove TikTok from their catalogs, so that it could not be downloaded on any type of mobile device. Second, once the app disappears from stores, it would be impossible for new users to download it. And in the case of those who already have it installed, they would not be able to send security updates or bug fixes.

Will TikTok still work after the 19th in the US?

It was not known for sure what will happen to the application and all the data it saves after January 19. Initially, several possibilities were considered.

A first option was for Oracle, an American company that stores the data of the country’s users on its servers, to stop providing its services immediately, in such a way that an instant blackout occurs.

Another possibility that was foreseen was that users continue accessing the application through the use of a VPN, which is a virtual private network that allows us to connect to the Internet safely and anonymously and that offers the possibility of changing the virtual location. However, even if a VPN is used, no updates would be received.

It was also proposed that Donald Trump, upon taking office on Monday, January 20, would try to reverse the ban, since he has mentioned that he prefers “a political solution” to this case.

According to NPR, the degradation of service was going to be gradual. What does this mean? First there would be bugs, then compatibility problems, and finally the application would stop working completely.

In such a way that the total time before the disappearance of the social network in North American territory was uncertain, days or months could pass.

However, as reported on Wednesday by the official financial newspaper China Securities Journal, citing its own sources, TikTok has decided that “it will not allow existing users to continue accessing the application after the block, opting for an abrupt closure” to highlight the impact. of the ban.

Is TikTok in danger in Europe?

The United States argues that its big concern is that ByteDance could share user data with the Chinese government or manipulate the algorithm for propaganda purposes. Something that TikTok has always denied.

And while the European Union has its own regulation and approach to TikTok, different from the US, a US ban could also accelerate the European debate on data security and foreign influence on social media, so according to what is mentioned in Xataka. Therefore, what happens in Washington will have repercussions in Brussels.

What will happen to TikTok in Peru?

In Peru and Latin America, the authorities have not commented on a possible restriction or ban, so TikTok will continue to operate normally despite its imminent disappearance in the US, at least in the short term. It is still uncertain what will happen in the long term. The company has indicated at some point that it will prioritize regional markets.

Which countries have banned TikTok?

1. India: In June 2020, India banned several Chinese apps for “security reasons,” including TikTok.
2. Uzbekistan: In July 2021, lawmakers in Uzbekistan banned the app. Even no one can use it through a VPN.
3. Afghanistan: In 2022, the country prohibited the app because he considered that it “deceived the youth.” Despite its ban, figures from “Wired” indicate that there are around 2 million users who use the app with a VPN.
4. Senegal: In August 2023, Senegal banned the TikTok for the criticism made of the opposition leader Ousmane Sonko through the app.
5. Somalia: The app was banned in this country for “spreading horrible content and misinformation to the public.”
6. Kyrgyzstan: In August 2023, the authorities of this country indicated that TikTok could affect “the health and development of children.”
7. Nepal: In November 2023, Nepal was the last country to join the list that prohibits the use of TikTokbecause it transgressed “social harmony” and could have an impact on “family and social structures.”

What apps could replace TikTok?

In 2024, Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act, where TikTok was warned of receiving harsh sanctions if it continued to provide its services to the northern country, unless it sold the application to American businessmen. .

However, ByteDance is not willing to go to this point. For this reason, users have wondered what application could replace TikTok in the United States.

There are some candidates. Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, is one of users’ favorite apps to replace TikTok.

Following the latest news about the ban on the ByteDance platform on January 19, RedNote reached number 1 in the US App Store.

The other app that also appears as an alternative is Lemon8, also owned by ByteDance. It was launched in the United States in 2023, a few years after its first appearance in Asian markets. Although it attracted some interest from media and users in its early days, it has not taken off as much as TikTok.

But in the last month, Lemon8 has been downloaded by more people, making it one of the highest-ranked free apps in the Apple App Store.