With the 19 January 2025 ban on TikTok just days away, American social media users and businesses are facing up to the fact that the video-sharing platform may go dark across the US at the weekend, with some now considering other alternatives at the last minute.
On Friday 10 January, a last-ditch attempt by TikTok and its parent, ByteDance, to stave off a ban at a hearing before the conservative-majority United States Supreme Court, saw the justices divided on issues such as the applicability of the First Amendment of the US Constitution to TikTok, and national security concerns.
In the hearing, the court appeared to reject the premise that a ban would infringe on TikTok’s First Amendment free speech rights and those of its US users – who number about 170 million or 50% of Americans – focusing instead on the need to regulate Chinese control of the application.
These arguments hinge on the fact that TikTok may transfer data on its users’ preferences into China to fuel the algorithm that pushes new content to them, but under Chinese law, its parent can be made to hand over this data to the Chinese government if asked. This point proved a major factor in moves to drive networking supplier Huawei out of western networks in the late 2010s.
Lawyers for the platform told the court that TikTok holds data on US users in an Oracle-owned datacentre located in northern Virginia, a few miles down the road from the Supreme Court.
At the time of writing, the Supreme Court had yet to issue a formal opinion on the matter, although there are four obvious options on the table: to uphold the ban or not under the First Amendment; to issue a stay of execution and delay the 19 January deadline, which would align with president-elect Donald Trump’s views; or to simply do nothing.
Meanwhile, on Monday 13 January, Democratic senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts announced he planned to introduce legislation to delay the ban by 270 days.
“TikTok creators and users across the nation are understandably alarmed. They are uncertain about the future of the platform, their accounts and the vibrant online communities they have cultivated,” said Markey.
“These communities cannot be replicated on another app. A ban would dismantle a one-of-a-kind informational and cultural ecosystem, silencing millions in the process.
“The stakes here are high. That’s why I will soon introduce the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act to extend the deadline by which ByteDance must sell TikTok or face a ban by an additional 270 days.”
As TikTok prepares to go dark, the rumour mill gears up
As Washington DC prepares to inaugurate president-elect Donald Trump for an historic and controversial second term on 20 January, the rumour mill surrounding TikTok has kicked into overdrive.
Prominent among the stories doing the rounds this week is the possible sale of TikTok by ByteDance to X (Twitter) and Tesla owner Elon Musk, who is now positioned as a key ally of Trump and is to lead a government department aimed at cutting regulations and restructuring the US government. TikTok has derided this idea as “pure fiction”.
Should TikTok go dark at the weekend, an outcome Computer Weekly understands that the platform is preparing for, the platform would be disabled for all US users, who will then be redirected to a website detailing the ban, and offered the option to download their data, according to The Information.
Doing so in fact goes above and beyond the stipulations contained in the ban, which mandates only a ban on new downloads from mobile app stores enabling existing users to continue to use it for the time being.
This approach would likely have been a temporary provision as the app itself would be unable to receive the same feature and security updates as it would in the rest of the world, rendering it unusable over time.
Users on the move, but TikTok alternatives are risky too
Meanwhile, distraught US TikTok users are beginning to face up to the fact that they may be effectively left homeless on Sunday, and some are beginning to consider alternatives, including the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to mask their location in the US.
For those unwilling to use a VPN, in the short-term, the most viable TikTok alternative is likely Meta-owned Instagram, which has been trying to outcompete TikTok by prioritising video content – Reels in its terminology – without much success to date.
However, Meta’s own approach to data privacy historically leaves much to be desired, and recent moves by Meta owner, billionaire tech baron Mark Zuckerberg, to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, and end protections against hate speech and harassment targeting LGBTQIA+ users, have been sharply criticised and will be a turn off for many.
For at least half a million TikTok users, the alternative appears to be another China-owned app, RedNote – known as Xiaohongshu, which translates to Little Red Book, a Mao Zedong reference, in China.
NordVPN’s Adrianus Warmenhoven said that RedNote might seem like a quick fix for TikTok users but also brings security and privacy risks, many of them exactly the same ones that have dogged TikTok.
“Like TikTok, RedNote is subject to Chinese data laws, which may grant government authorities access to user data without the privacy protections expected in the US,” said Warmenhoven.
“The platform collects extensive personal data, including location, browsing activity and device-specific information like IP addresses. It can also share this data with third-party service providers or government authorities, raising concerns about user privacy.
“A major red flag is the app’s lack of transparency – its terms and conditions are mainly in Mandarin, leaving non-Chinese-speaking users unclear about what data is collected and how it’s used. This makes it difficult for users to make informed decisions about their privacy.
“Beyond privacy, there are concerns about content censorship. RedNote’s content moderation policies may align with Chinese government standards, potentially stifling free speech and exposing users to biased information.
“Given these risks, social media users should think twice before switching to RedNote. The same privacy, transparency and national security concerns that led to the TikTok debate are likely to apply here,” he added.
According to Laura Kankaala, threat intelligence lead on F-Secure, agreed that Americans and others making the switch should be on high alert. She warned such apps are also targeted by scammers, and said it was a distinct possibility that new users may find themselves being exploited by malicious actors exploiting the hype.
“In terms of data, based on the now-viral ‘bye bye Chinese spy’ videos and memes, TikTok users seem to be aware that their data is collected and used to target content tailored for them. The rule on the internet is that if something is free, your data and attention is the price. The same holds true for RedNote – it will collect your data and use it to keep you engaged on the platform,” she said.
Kankaala added: “Security checks are crucial. From a cyber security perspective, my advice to new users would be to check their privacy settings and ensure that they are not giving permission to share content publicly. It’s also worth checking how visible their profile is and how easily people can discover them on the app.
“It seems that the default option for registering on Rednote is via a phone number and text message – my recommendation is to set a strong and unique password for better account protection.”