Short form video app TikTok has announced on Friday it may shut down in the U.S. on January 19, unless the Biden administration provides assurances to key service providers about the app’s future.
The announcement comes as the app faces pressure from a U.S. law requiring its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its stake or face a ban. The Supreme Court recently upheld the law, leaving TikTok’s future uncertain.
“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” the company said in a statement.
With over 170 million users in the U.S. and 14 million in Canada, TikTok’s potential shutdown has left users searching for alternatives.
In Canada, Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, has surged to the top of the App Store charts. The platform boasts a massive global user base of 300 million and is seen as a strong replacement if TikTok is banned.
President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering an executive order to delay the enforcement of the TikTok ban by 60 to 90 days after his inauguration on January 20.
In Canada, TikTok faces its own challenges. The app was banned from government-issued devices in February 2023.
In November 2024, Ottawa ordered TikTok to shut down its Canadian offices, citing national security concerns, but allowed the app to remain available to users—which was sending a mixed message.
If TikTok shuts down, some users are considering using VPNs to access the app, though the legality and effectiveness of this workaround remain uncertain. We already saw how Instagram made made changes to its Reels yesterday, ahead of the expected TikTok shutdown.
As the January 19 deadline looms, millions of users in the U.S. and Canada are bracing for what might come next. Many Canadian content creators and businesses have built up huge followings on TikTok. The app’s expected shutdown puts their livelihoods jeopardy.
If TikTok faces a ban in the U.S., it’s likely that the federal government here will follow in its footsteps, once again.
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Rednote just replaced tiktok.
People just really, really want their attention spans and common sense to be down to an all time low in the next 5 years. And Trump wants to dismantle the department of education.
The US is gonna be just as cooked as Canada is already.