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Doing the ByteDance


If you are a TikTok user in the United States, this past week has been a roller coaster.

To recap, in 2024 Congress passed a law requiring ByteDance to divest ownership of TikTok in the US, or shut down. ByteDance fought this all the way to the Supreme Court, where the ban was upheld. The law was scheduled to go into effect on January 19th.

In the past week:
  • ByteDance blocked US users on TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8 and its other apps.
  • ByteDance restored access to US users.
  • President Trump signed an Executive Order that says the law won't be enforced for 75 days.
  • The Google Play Store and Apple App Store have not restored access to ByteDance apps.
  • There are new video feeds on Instagram, Bluesky, X and other platforms. 
  • Instagram expanded Reels length to 3 minutes. YouTube also recently made that change (but not in the past week).
  • Instagram announced Edits, a CapCut Competitor that should be available in March.
It's not clear what will happen, but the next few months should be interesting.

ByteDance Blocks US Access to its Apps

On the evening Saturday, January 18th, ByteDance blocked US users from all its apps and services, including TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8 and the game Marvel Snap.

The message displayed on TikTok included the statement, "We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office."

ByteDance Restores Access to TikTok

On Sunday January 19th, the day the ban was due to go into effect, Bytedance apparently had received enough assurances that the law would not be enforced, and so US access to its various apps was restored, with a thank you for “President Trump’s efforts”.


Once Trump actually took office on Monday January 20th, there was an Executive Order that the law banning ByteDance would not be enforced for 75 days.

Access to CapCut and other apps have also been restored. 

But you can't install the TikTok app

The law is still in effect and there have not clear assurances that there will not be legal repercussions for tech platforms providing services to ByteDance in the US. 


As of this writing, TikTok, CapCut and other ByteDance apps are still not available in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store in the US.

If you search for TikTok in the Google Play Store app, you see a notice that says “Downloads for this app are paused due to current US legal requirements”.

The Apple App store just shows competitor apps (at the top are Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and YouTube). But they did publish a statement about why ByteDance apps are not available in the United States.

So someone in the US, like me, can access TikTok and CapCut on the web or use the apps I already have installed on my phone. But there will be no app bug fixes, new installs or updates until the app stores reinstate access.

What will happen after 75 days? That’s still up in the air.

Social media companies want your eyes (and videos)

Big social media platforms have made clear that they want to be TikTok alternative. To do that they need creators to start publishing more videos and viewers to watch them. 

Longer Vertical Videos

TikTok is best known as the home of short vertical videos. But not too short! In 2021 they started supporting longer videos, up to 3 minutes long. So, of course, the competitors need to do that too.
This lets creators who make longer TikToks easily upload the same content to YouTube and Instagram. 

Bonuses for TikTok Creators on Meta

Just before TikTok shut down, Meta started reaching out to TikTok creators with a new Breakthrough Bonus Program for Instagram and Facebook.

This allows “new to Facebook or Instagram” creators to start monetizing immediately, with potential bonuses up to $5,000. This is a “mobile only” program, available for creators with “an existing presence on a third party social app”, but not already monetizing on Facebook, who are based in the US, and at least 18 years old. 

It's not clear how many - if any - TikTokers took them up on this offer.

New Video Feeds

Many social platforms have taken this opportunity to launch dedicated video feeds.
Of course, none of these have TikTok's secret sauce, their unique design and algorithm.

Instagram Announces CapCut Competitor

CapCut is an easy-to-use video editing app, available both on desktop and mobile devices. It includes templates and animations that not only make editing easy, but also give videos a distinctive look.

Last Saturday, the day before the app would be banned in the US, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram announced that Meta is developing their own video editing app, creatively called Edits. 

It sounds great:

Edits is more than a video editing app, it’s a full suite of creative tools. There will be a dedicated tab for inspiration, another to keep track of any early ideas you might have, a much higher quality camera which I used to record this video, all the editing tools you’d expect, the ability to share drafts with friends and other creators, and, if you decide to share your videos on Instagram, powerful insights on how those videos do.

You can pre-order the app for iOS today, and Android app is going to be eventually available. But it’s not actually going to be available until March. It feels very much like Meta is rushing this out. 

There are already a number of mobile video editing app alternatives:
Meta has the advantage of being able to both throw resources at developing the app, and then offering it to creators for free.

So what's Next for ByteDance?

It's not clear what will happen over the next 75 days. 

Will ByteDance sell off TikTok? If it does will it include CapCut and other apps? Maybe, but it might not include its algorithm, which is what makes it tick (so to speak).

Will Congress repeal the ban? I'm guessing that's unlikely. The original law had strong bipartisan support, and it was claimed this ban is important for national security. That said, a "Repeal the TikTok Ban Act" has been introduced by Senator Rand Paul and Representative Ro Khanna, so that's something to watch.

Will creators shift their efforts to other platforms? Hopefully TikTok-only creators are at least considering other platforms. But success on Instagram or YouTube isn't guaranteed. Tech reporter Taylor Lorenz also suggests this could reshape the politics of the creator economy to the right.

Will this give YouTube and Instagram a boost? There are probably TikTok creators who have started publishing to more platforms, but it's not clear if they will be able to find an audience. Also, shoppable videos are big on TikTok, and while there is shopping on YouTube and Instagram Reels, it doesn't seem to have caught on as well. Maybe there is an opportunity there. 

The next couple of months should be interesting.

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