TikTok has “resurrected” in the United States. What do practitioners think?

From the short suspension of service to the rapid resumption of operation, this series of events is behind the complex geopolitical game and the tug of war between business interests. Through dialogues with TikTok practitioners, this article explores in depth their attitudes and prospects for the US market under the shadow of the ban.

TikTok was blocked, and TikTok is back.

On January 19, before the US ban officially took effect, TikTok shut down its US business ahead of schedule. However, more than a dozen hours later, TikTok announced that it would resume operations, but it was only temporarily safe because the US ban on TikTok, which was "banned if not sold," did not disappear, but was only extended for 90 days.

The fate of TikTok in the United States seems to remain uncertain. The brief delisting caused panic among users, and the operators on TikTok - merchants, service providers, and entertainment guilds - are also concerned about the subsequent development of TikTok.

Under the shadow of the ban, will practitioners still choose to expand into the US market? What are the reasons?

1. TikTok’s “resurrection”

In less than a day, TikTok experienced the "absurd moment" from suspension and removal to resumption of operations in the United States.

On January 19, Beijing time, TikTok stopped serving in the United States. American users who opened TikTok received a pop-up notification that it was temporarily unavailable. In addition, TikTok was removed from the Google Play Store.

Earlier in the day, TikTok said in a notice: "We regret that the relevant US laws against TikTok will take effect on January 19, which forces us to temporarily suspend our services in the United States. We are working hard to resume services in the United States as soon as possible. We thank you for your support, please stay tuned."

As TikTok was banned in the United States, a series of ByteDance apps, such as Lark (the overseas version of Feishu), Lemon8, and Capcut (the overseas version of Jianying), announced the suspension of services. Many games of Moonton Technology, a subsidiary of ByteDance, also stopped operating at the same time.

For a while, news such as "TikTok ceases services in the United States" and "TikTok is removed from the US market" flooded the entire Internet, sparking heated discussions.

The head of an entertainment guild of TikTok in the United States told Xinbochang that after the announcement of TikTok's suspension of service in the United States, he received the most calls in one day in the past year, including from domestic operation colleagues and local anchors. Everyone was shocked and confused.

However, the tsunami that caused the shock lasted less than a day.

In the early morning of January 20, the official account of TikTok pushed an announcement that it was restoring services. At present, the TikTok application has resumed normal use and the TikTok website has also returned to normal.

Regarding the news of resuming operations, some practitioners told Xinbochang that compared to the sad TikTok users, they had more or less sensed the "signal" in advance.

"Although it has not been explicitly stated that it will be restored, the official side said that there will not be any major problems." said the person in charge of the entertainment guild.

In addition, a service provider engaged in TikTok sales told Xinbochang: "Only C-end users received pop-up notifications of the shutdown, but our merchants' backends did not receive similar notifications, and the merchants' backends can still submit mall activities normally. Creators just can't publish videos, but their drafts will be automatically saved."

These signs seem to indicate that TikTok's ban in the United States is only temporary.

2. What do practitioners think?

Why was TikTok able to "come back to life" in such a short time?

On January 17, nine judges of the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that TikTok should be removed from the U.S. starting on January 19. After TikTok was shut down, it was able to go back online quickly after more than ten hours, mainly due to the efforts of U.S. President Trump.

Nearly 12 hours after TikTok was shut down in the US, Trump first shouted on social media: "SAVE TikTok!" Then he updated a tweet, saying that he "will issue an executive order on Monday US time to extend the deadline before the legal ban takes effect", extending the TikTok ban issued by the US Supreme Court for 90 days. He also said that before the executive order is issued, any company that helps TikTok avoid being shut down will not be held responsible. At the same time, he also pointed out that "I hope the United States will have 50% ownership in the joint venture."

But the ban remains in place, and TikTok's fate in the United States still seems unclear.

However, despite the unknown road ahead, after talking to several practitioners, Xinbochang found that most of them had no intention of withdrawing from the US market.

"If we analyze it in our own small circle, we don't think the problem is big. Because from our current perspective, Trump is relatively supportive of TikTok's development, or is quite proactive in solving the problem."

Service providers engaged in selling products on TikTok said that they believe that all that is needed in the future is a plan that will allow TikTok to continue operating.

They believe that there may be two options: the first is to allow some American companies to come in and get the same shares as ByteDance, which is consistent with Trump's statement that "I hope the United States will have 50% ownership in the joint venture"; the second is the possibility of separating the information collection business, that is, ByteDance must obtain the approval of relevant American companies when it wants to obtain information, that is, to separate the information.

In addition to believing that the subsequent impact will be small, being optimistic about the US market is another important reason why many practitioners are unwilling to give up this market even in the face of the uncertainty of the ban.

Some service providers stated that they regard the European and American markets as their main overseas expansion battlefield, mainly because they feel that the gross profit margin in the United States is higher and the overall consumption power is stronger than that in the Southeast Asian market.

Official data from 2024 showed that the overall GMV of TikTok Shop's content market in the United States soared by 557%, and the number of daily paying users increased by more than 3 times; the number of content e-commerce creators increased by 10 times year-on-year, and the number of e-commerce influencers in the United States who can drive sales maintained a growth rate of more than 70% every quarter.

In the entertainment live broadcast business sector, the US region is also an important market. The head of an entertainment guild said: "We can't give up the US region. We have achieved a very high growth rate and it is impossible to give up."

Currently, TikTok has a 90-day buffer period in the US. After 90 days, where TikTok will go is still unknown.

However, merchants, service providers and entertainment guilds are all looking forward to a satisfactory result. "We are still relatively optimistic." Finally, the service provider said, "but let's take it one step at a time."