In the evening hours of Jan. 18, American users sadly checked TikTok one last time before the ban on the app in the US went into effect only to find that their access had already been revoked..
TikTok’s parent company pulled access to the popular video-sharing app less than two hours before it went dark. The app’s 170 million active users in the US are now seeing an eyebrow-raising pop-up exclaiming the possibility of president-elect Donald Trump saving the app. Despite the surprising timing of TikTok’s shutdown, months of legal and legal battles ensued leading up to the day when the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Hostile Applications Act,” would go into effect. What many have not considered, however, is how the US law, which targets any “application controlled by a foreign adversary,” could lead to other popular apps being caught, too.
ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company and one of the companies named in the bill, quickly removed its apps and related platforms. before the US law goes into effect – a glimpse of the true scope of the Chinese subsidiary’s influence on US users’ digital consumption. Other foreign-controlled applications, or those linked to companies considered foreign enemies, could certainly follow.
Here are the major apps that are no longer available in the US due to the ban, as of Jan. 19:
When is TikTok coming back? Americans are turning to VPNs with mixed results
TikTok Studio, Retailer of the TikTok Store
In addition to the main platform, ByteDance has launched its second TikTok offerings for creators and companies, including TikTok Studio (a video creation and editing tool) and the TikTok Shop Merchant Center (a management platform for businesses that sell on the TikTok Shop).
Marvel Snap
Marvel Snap, the popular card game hero with millions of players in the US, was an unexpected victim of TikTok’s ban. While created by California-based developer Second Dinner, the game is published by ByteDance-owned Nuverse. Other games published by Nuverse, such as World: Revival – The Deep Underground again Ragnarok X: 3 years are still available for download at the moment, i The Verge reports. Nuverse did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Mashable Light Speed
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CapCut
A popular video editing app used by fancam makers and meme editors across the internet (and on TikTok), CapCut was released on the US app store. Many expected and warned users that the app, also owned by ByteDance, would be affected by the ban.
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Lemon8
TikTok’s Lemon8, originally hailed as a Pinterest-meets-Instagram social media hybrid, was also fired in the late hours of Jan. 18. Since its launch in 2023, amid the initial debate of shutting down its parenting app, Lemon8 has grown in popularity. creators of fitness and wellness.
Hypic
Hypic is ByteDance’s free photo editing offering, heavily developed on TikTok as a visual-focused photography tool. It also allowed TikTok users to apply AI-powered face filters to their videos.
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Lark, Lark Team Collaboration, Lark Rooms Display, Lark Rooms Controller
ByteDance-owned Lark is a productivity suite for businesses created as a competitor to Google Workspace. The suite, which includes a second controller and launch apps, has been removed from the US market.
Gauth
Gauth, originally known as GauthMath, is an AI-powered learning app developed by ByteDance and one of the most popular educational apps on the Apple App Store. The app has reached 200 million users worldwide by 2024.
Other applications
Popular apps in international markets were also pulled after the ByteDance hack. These include Melolo, a short video app powered by Poligon and popular in Southeast Asia; Fizzo, Poligon’s e-book platform; and Tokopedia, a popular e-commerce site in Indonesia. Poligon is a subsidiary of ByteDance based in Singapore.
Notably, RedNote (Xiaohongshu) is still available for download in the US app store, despite the Chinese-owned platform being subject to China’s data privacy and censorship laws. In the lead up to TikTok’s ban, many users flocked to the video platform as a potential alternative.
