TikTok influencers from across the world have reacted to the US ban while more American users shared their heartbreak at the Supreme Court bombshell.
The Chinese-based video app has officially shut down its services for 170 million American TikTokers after the Supreme Court allowed the ban in a shock ruling on Friday.
And while many American influencers have continued to mourn the loss of their followers, incomes and livelihoods, other users around the world uploaded humorous memes making light of the ban.
One video captioned ‘British creators to TikTok when it is banned in the US’ shows British soldiers victoriously marching and waving their country’s flag.
In another jokey clip, a man is seen dancing and singing ‘look at me’ in light of the US ban.
A third video captioned ‘going to sleep tonight knowing that US won’t be here tomorrow’ shows a woman pretending to cry herself to sleep to a humorous sobbing sound.
Meanwhile, those in the US shed more tears ahead of the ban last night, with some claiming their entire livelihoods have been snatched from them.
Emily Senn, who boasted 348,000 followers on the app, uploaded an emotional clip revealing how the platform helped her through losing her job and getting a divorce.
‘To the US government, I’m never forgiving you for this,’ she said.
‘And I’m never going to trust you ever again because you, just like that, took away millions of people’s incomes and livelihoods. Who does that?’
She added: ‘I feel so dumb coming on the internet and crying about an app, but the fact is this is this has been a sense of community for me for years now, and it got me through really, really hard times in my life.
‘The pandemic, losing my job, all of that. Getting divorced, all of this c*** that’s happened to me in the last five years since I’ve been on here. Hours and hours and hours of time I put into creating stuff for this platform.’
Another influencer, who goes by the username ‘chloebuffcakes’ and has 2.5 million followers, posted a teary clip mourning the loss of the platform.
‘I’m not crying – I’m just watching the life and community I built be torn down,’ she said.
‘An app that has given millions of women financial independence and supported seven million small businesses. Where I shared losing my mom to brain cancer and became financially able to raise my 7-year-old sister.’
The court issued its decision on Friday after TikTok argued a law banning the popular video streaming app violated users First Amendment rights.
‘We conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights,’ the country’s highest court wrote in its decision, which reaffirming an appeals court ruling.
Earlier this year, Congress passed a law banning TikTok unless its Chinese parent company ByteDance sells its stakes by January 19, 2025. But after months, no deal materialized.
Some 170 million Americans use the video app, and some warned that banning the platform would disrupt the business and livelihoods of millions.
The fate of the platform now rests on an intervention from incoming President Donald Trump.
Addressing rumours of a TikTok ban in the UK, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: ‘We always keep all of these technology issues under consideration, whether it’s for national security or data privacy concerns.
‘We have laws in place and processes to do that. We have no plans right now to ban TikTok from the UK.
‘So, we won’t be following the same path that the Americans have followed unless or until at some point in the future there is a threat that we are concerned about in the British interest.’
At that point, Mr Jones suggested a review could be carried out.
‘On Government devices, for example, we’ve not been allowed to use TikTok for many years, the last Conservative government took the same position because there’s sensitive information on those devices,’ he said.
‘But for consumers who want to post videos of their cats or dancing, that doesn’t seem like a national security threat to me.’