TikTok's 24 hours: shutdown, restart and game

On the 19th, TikTok was briefly removed from the App Store due to a ban by the U.S. Supreme Court, and then quickly resumed service following the intervention of President Trump. This dramatic reversal not only threw TikTok users and merchants into chaos, but also triggered a chain reaction among many apps under ByteDance.

"Thank you for your patience and support. TikTok is back in the United States." Less than a day after being removed from the shelves, TikTok was resumed in the United States.

The reason why TikTok was able to return quickly in a short period of time this time was because Trump issued a 90-day extension of the execution period.

At the same time, Trump also told more than 170 service providers that any company that helps TikTok maintain operations will not be held legally responsible before the new policy is officially released. With this "disclaimer", service providers can put aside their concerns about being fined. This is why TikTok was able to resume use so quickly this time.

TikTok's statement on X

However, TikTok has not yet been restored to the local app store, which means that a group of American users who have uninstalled the app will be unable to download TikTok from the store.

From the impending ban to its actual implementation, at the beginning of 2025, we have experienced a group of American users who called themselves "TikTok refugees" flocking to Xiaohongshu, the US Supreme Court's ruling that the ban would take effect, and by January 19, all of ByteDance's applications had withdrawn from the US market, and then resumed services.

With a series of dynamics, TikTok's stay in the US market has not yet come to an end, and ByteDance is still in the game. So far, TikTok's experience in the US has not only provided a reference case for other companies going overseas, but also reflected the various possibilities of other products in overseas markets. The "domino effect" of the TikTok ban

As TikTok falls, a domino is causing a chain reaction on the other side of the ocean as ByteDance's apps withdraw from the US market.

Although the time from removal to return was no more than one day, American users may never have been so clearly aware of how extensive ByteDance's business layout in the United States is.

Starting from January 19, all of ByteDance's application products, except TikTok, were removed from the Apple, Google and other app stores. According to incomplete statistics from Business Data, at least nine ByteDance products in the fields of tools, games, and education have stopped being available to users in the United States, and even the products of Moonton, a game company acquired by ByteDance, have not been spared.

Take Gauth, for example. It is an AI education app under ByteDance, which mainly helps users answer questions by taking photos. Thanks to the integration with ByteDance's overseas education business, Gauth has been ranked top 1 in the education category of the US app list many times, and provides services to overseas students together with applications such as Questions AI (homework helper overseas version). At present, Gauth has more than 200 million users worldwide.

But as the TikTok ban came into effect, many users only learned on this day that it and TikTok belong to the same Chinese company.

On the same day, many ByteDance apps were removed from the US app store.

After TikTok resumed service, some ByteDance products, including Marvel and Snap, have not yet resumed use, which has also caused a lot of suffering for many users.

In fact, if ByteDance is forced to withdraw from the United States, it will be a lose-lose situation for both the company and the U.S. market.

For ByteDance, the United States is a key part of its globalization plan, providing a large source of revenue for ByteDance applications. Take CapCut as an example. According to reports, CapCut (the overseas version of CapCut) earned more than 10 billion yuan in overseas markets last year. When CapCut earned its first 100 million US dollars overseas, the US market contributed more than 50%. If calculated at this ratio, CapCut's revenue will be reduced by half.

For the US market, TikTok provides more than just a platform. The opportunities it creates also support a group of creator users and workers, and also bring considerable income to service providers.

According to a report from the Oxford Economics Institute, in 2023, TikTok created 59,000 jobs in the United States and contributed $8.5 billion to the U.S. economy.

For service providers such as Oracle that provide cloud services to TikTok, TikTok has also become a key player in financial performance.

Previously, Oracle CEO Safra Catz publicly stated in a meeting that the ban on TikTok may have an impact on Oracle's performance. According to Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne, if ByteDance pays 5% of TikTok's revenue to cloud service providers each year, its annual revenue from TikTok may be between $480 million and $800 million.

Judging from the current situation and according to the Supreme Court’s ruling, if TikTok wants to continue operating in the United States, it will have to accept the option of being sold to an American company, otherwise it will be banned.

With considerable profits, unique categories and brand advantages, American companies have set their sights on TikTok. Project Liberty has submitted a proposal to acquire TikTok's US assets.

While the situation of TikTok is still unclear, some companies are preparing to launch alternative services to TikTok. Just today, X announced that it will launch a video streaming service on its application platform.

X opens up an independent short video section

Yesterday, AI search unicorn Perplexity also submitted a cooperation plan to TikTok. Unlike other sale proposals, Perplexity hopes to build a new merged entity consisting of Perplexity, TikTok US and new capital partners through a merger. According to people familiar with the matter, the new structure will allow most of ByteDance's existing investors to retain their equity, while Perplexity will obtain TikTok's video content.

However, ByteDance's attitude has been clear enough from the beginning to the end. In the years when the ban was reported, ByteDance repeatedly denied the rumors of selling TikTok. On January 19, ByteDance told Caixin that although many companies wanted to buy TikTok, ByteDance would not sell TikTok.

Regarding the merger and acquisition news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also gave a clear response today: "For corporate operations and acquisitions, we always believe that they should be decided independently by the companies based on market principles. If Chinese companies are involved, they should comply with Chinese laws and regulations."

Everything has not yet reached the final chapter, and the fate of TikTok is unknown, but the game is still going on. As Zhou Shouzi responded to the Supreme Court’s ruling, “We will do everything we can to ensure the prosperity of our platform.”