Last month, we witnessed the effects of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), also known as the TikTok ban. Approximately 170 million users said goodbye to the app… for less than 24 hours. For 270 days, small businesses, influencers, and users alike were worried about the January 19th deadline. They became more aware of the systems in place to stop bills and how the Supreme Court works. But on Friday, January 17th, hope appeared to be lost.
On Saturday the 18th, and really the whole week before, people were mourning the loss of TikTok. Users were coming on and making confessions on their content but overall everyone was having a celebration of life for the app. People talked about how TikTok changed their lives, talked about the friends and connections made. There was a deep love felt across the board, the emotional response was more of saying goodbye to a friend rather than a social media app.
Joey Kidney’s video does a great job of showing all the raw emotions American TikTok users were feeling. Slowly that Saturday night TikTok started shutting down to their American consumers, and at 10:30 the app was shut down. When it did come back up Sunday 19th for those who did not delete the app this is the message they received.
The day before the inauguration and a day before he had the power to do so, TikTok was thanking then President Elect Donald Trump.
Many TikTok users saw through this move on TikTok’s part, calling out the publicity stunt and propaganda for what it was. People still flocked to Xiaohongshu or as it has been coined “The Little Red Book” or RedNote. Not wanting to return to Meta or Twitter, speaking out against how Zuckerberg campaigned against TikTok (coming after them for practices that his companies have and in a more extreme way). People wanted to make sure he knew they weren’t taking this lying down, not only by deleting all Meta apps but also by discovering ugly truths about their practices, especially regarding how Messenger is the worst of all Meta’s apps. By having the app you agree to their terms, which allow Messenger to have access to every device on any wifi network you are connected to.
Xiaohongshu has done more to radicalize people in the span of a month than some political leaders have in decades. It has broken down misconceptions from both sides and shown Americans what it is like to live in China. In its efforts to limit communication, the U.S. government effectively pushed its people into an app actually owned by the Chinese government. What was primarily used for lifestyle and review content has now become a sanctuary for “TikTok refugees”, where people are learning Mandarin to communicate better. This app has even led some people in China to learn that some of the things their government tells them about the US aren't propaganda, such as the costs of ambulances and the unfortunate truths of school shootings.
Though the app is back up, many feel that it is no longer the place they once loved and held dear. It is a stark realization that it could be stripped away so quickly, revealing how the oligarchy has truly affected their lives. Knowing that these next 90 days could very well be their last, I do not expect there to be a celebration of life for TikTok like there was on January 19. Many are begging and pleading for the app to stay, but they do not want it to be controlled by another billionaire whose ego will drive down what made the app so special.
While the kids are going to be alright, the real question we need to be asking ourselves is how are we going to be harnessing this energy and using it to elevate our organizing?
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