New to TikTok: Trump's looming ban prompts some to download the app
People who downloaded TikTok for the first time say it's an act of protest. New downloads of TikTok will be barred on Sunday.
Queenie Wong
Sept. 19, 2020 9:11 a.m. PT
LISTEN - 05:25
TikTok has more than 100 million users in the US.
Angela Lang/CNET
Luna Flesher had considered downloading
TikTok but worried about the security of the short-form video app. Plus, the 46-year-old thought the app, famous for dance-offs and lip-syncing, was for teens.
On Friday, Flesher pushed those concerns aside and started using TikTok for the first time after news broke that the Trump administration planned to bar new downloads of the app on midnight Sunday.
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"If someone threatens to take away something from us that we feel we have a freedom to do, we do have a tendency to latch onto it and be motivated to protect that freedom," said Flesher, a freelance writer in Washington state. "I am recognizing that in my own behavior."
As the Trump administration moves forward with plans to restrict TikTok, people like Flesher are downloading the short-form video app in protest or as a precaution in case the app does get banned. They're also encouraging others to do the same. Many people spoke out on Twitter, where tweets about the potential ban trended on the social media site on Friday.
Don’t even want #tiktok but I’m downloading it before dumb duck
#trump bans it Sunday.
— Sarah Tebo (
@SLTtotheEbo)
September 18, 2020
If ur ever thinking of downloading tiktok, do it now cuz the US is banning downloads on sunday hshhehbshzhzhs hehe
— 𝑡𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒✨🌺 (
@taffixx)
September 18, 2020
debating downloading tiktok before it gets knocked off the app store to stick it to the man. how much data does it take up
— the jester king || writing comms open (
@unrealitywaltz) September 18, 2020
Unless a deal that satisfies the US government is struck, TikTok users won't be able to update versions of the app they've already downloaded, after Sunday. That could leave the app's more than 100 million American users without access to security patches or improvements to the service going forward. New downloads of Chinese social media app WeChat are also set to be barred on Sunday.
There were roughly 247,000 downloads of TikTok in the US on Friday, up 12% from Thursday, according to preliminary estimates by app analytics firm Sensor Tower. TikTok US installs on Friday were down slightly by 3% week-over-week. WeChat had 10,000 US installs on Friday, up 150% from Thursday and 233% week-over-week. It was the most US downloads in a day that WeChat has seen since Oct. 7, 2019, according to Sensor Tower.
The Trump administration has targeted TikTok because Chinese tech company ByteDance owns the app. US officials have raised concerns that the Chinese government could use TikTok to spy on federal employees and other US citizens. The administration has issued two executive orders impacting the app, including one on Aug. 14 that requires ByteDance to sell its US operations by Nov. 12. After that date, the US government plans to ban TikTok entirely.
The Trump administration is considering a proposal from ByteDance and Oracle, a major US tech company, designed to address the security concerns. On Friday, Trump said a deal could be done "very, very quickly" though he stipulated the US has to have "total security from China."
TikTok has said it would never turn over US user data to the Chinese government even if it were asked to do so. US user data is also stored in the US and Singapore, according to the company.
Read more: Everything you need to know about the TikTok saga
Some security experts say the Trump administration's move against TikTok is more about politics than security. During an election year, Trump wants to show he's tough on China and he's also blamed the country for the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, said Rahul Telang, an information systems professor at Carnegie Mellon University'