As we shared last April, President Joe Biden signed a bill that would force the sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner, ByteDance – or ban it in the U.S. if not sold within nine months. We have officially hit that nine-month mark, and the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government can legally shut down TikTok in the U.S., causing a severe hit to the millions of jobs and businesses that the app supports.
Now that a decision has been made, TikTok’s fate is currently in “to be continued” territory. Effective January 19 the app will no longer be offered in app stores, and companies will be barred from hosting the app – or be subjected to hefty fines. That said, given the discourse around the new administration stepping in to assist in keeping the app available in the U.S. and the many high-profile buyers expressing interest in purchasing the app, this story will continue to unfold. The MMGY social team will be keeping a close watch on updates and what they mean for marketers in real time.
What does this mean until next week? First, the Biden administration has already stated that they will not enforce the ban, leaving that responsibility to the incoming Trump administration. For now we recommend pausing organic and paid content on the platform until more solidified news is in place. Even though you’re still able to share content, newsfeeds will be filled with messaging surrounding the ban – making it hard to break through the clutter. It is not a wise use of time or investment to focus on your TikTok strategy until there is more news regarding the app’s fate.
Social media has always been – and will continue to be – a constantly evolving landscape. TikTok changed the social media landscape for U.S. social media users dramatically, and those impacts will continue to change how brands and users interact, consume and create content in the future. As we shared last April, your social media strategy shouldn’t rely solely on one platform. Your strategy succeeded before TikTok, and it will continue to do – with or without the app as part of your overall marketing mix. If you haven’t prepared a plan on how to shift your efforts to other high-performing channels or are curious about emerging platforms that could potentially be a good fit for your brand, reach out to [email protected].