A TikTok logo appears on an iPhone.
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Somehow, TikTok came back.
The video-sharing app is in the process of being restored after ByteDance shut down the app on Saturday, January 18, following a US ban.
TikTok began to bounce back to life on Sunday morning, with the app’s “death” lasting less than a day.
Several high-profile entrepreneurs have made headlines with their intentions to buy the app, from YouTube sensation MrBeast to serious gamer Elon Musk, but ByteDance has expressed no interest in selling.
While TikTok’s long-term future is still unknown, ByteDance has announced its willingness to “work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
TikTokers celebrated the revival hours after TikTok’s shutdown inspired a meme-filled funeral in which TikTok creators and users shared their favorite videos, reflecting on the positives and negatives of the short-form video app.
TikTokers reflected on the legacy of TikTok
Despite being caught in the middle of a geopolitical tug-of-war, TikTok has been beloved by many internet users since the pandemic prompted millions of bored Americans to discover a new digital frontier.
In the brief hours that TikTok was unavailable, commenters were collecting, sharing and discussing their favorite videos from the app, highlighting TikTok’s influence on US internet culture.
X (Twitter) went wild with TikTok-related requests, as users took the opportunity to squeeze more engagement from the doomed app.
Many complained about the potential loss of revenue, citing TikTok creators who managed to make a living making content.
TikTok has exposed users to quirky videos, charismatic creators, political awakenings, layered jokes and unique trends.
It’s often noted that TikTok played a major role in the internet’s transition from text to video, changing the shape of memes, as quick, often anonymous Twitter witticisms were steadily replaced by intimate close-ups of TikTokers monologuing on their bedrooms.
Maybe TikTok made us all shallower, as pretty faces and soothing voices became an important ingredient for virality, but TikTok also showed us how incredibly intelligent, creative and charismatic creators are out there, far beyond the reach of the entertainment industry. , but able to create compelling content with nothing but a smartphone.
Many claimed that TikTok had educated and broadened their horizons, but others pointed out that the app was also a cesspool of misinformation and hyper-stimulation.
Superstitions, New Age beliefs, and paranormal sightings are rampant on the app (many TikTok users seem convinced of the existence of giants, despite the practice of keeping such large entities secret).
Many TikTokers fled to the Chinese-owned app Xiaohongshu (RedNote in English) in anticipation of TikTok’s ban in the US, deliberately choosing a Chinese app over Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Now, American TikTokers are chatting, joking and flirting with Chinese RedNote users, sparking new connections despite the language barrier.
It’s unclear whether RedNote’s popularity will last, seeing as TikTok is making a comeback and no other app seems to scratch the same itch.
Why is TikTok so popular?
Meta and YouTube have certainly tried to copy TikTok’s timeline, but TikTok’s secret sauce isn’t short-form video, but the app’s sticky algorithm.
YouTube’s recommendation algorithm is sometimes useful, more often a mixed bag, but many see Meta’s algorithm as almost useless, as Instagram and Facebook are infested with AI-generated frustrations.
Garbage Day’s Ryan Broderick attributes TikTok’s elaborate algorithm to its focus on selling products to the user, as opposed to Western social media apps, which are “much more interested in selling you to advertisers.”
A lot of criticism has been written about TikTok’s uncanny ability to predict what the viewer wants to see and the app’s tendency to put users in narrow echo chambers, but still, TikTokers seem to love using it.
Online, the prevailing attitude seems to be that if social media users are going to mine their own data, they might as well have fun doing it—it doesn’t matter who’s doing the mining.
TikTok’s funeral may be over, but the app’s future is far from certain.
If TikTok disappears (again), it will leave a gaping chasm in the digital landscape, and it’s unclear if there’s an American competitor ready to fill the gap.
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