TikTok says it has 170 million users in the US who, on average, spend 51 minutes a day on the app in 2024.
Banning TikTok or making it less usable and it creates a huge opportunity for its big tech rivals says Jasmine Enberg, an analyst at Insider Intelligence.
“Instagram Reels owned by Meta and YouTube Shorts, owned by Google, are the most natural fit for displaced users, creators, and advertisers,” he said.
Facebook could also benefit, although Ms Enberg said, like all Meta platforms, controversial policy changes announced by boss Mark Zuckerberg could potentially reduce its appeal.
Users bring advertisers – so a ban could be a huge financial boost for the platform.
“The Chief Marketing Officers we spoke with confirmed that they will transfer their media dollars to Meta and Google if they can no longer advertise on TikTok – this is the same behavior we saw in India when they banned TikTok in 2020”, said Forrester analyst Principal Kelsey Chickering.
Lemon8, which is also owned by ByteDance, would be an obvious place for people to follow the ban – but the law says it also applies to other apps owned or operated by the company. This means Lemon8 will likely also face becoming inaccessible in the US.
Other potential winners include Twitch, which made its name in hosting livestreams – a popular feature on TikTok. Twitch is known mainly for gamers, although it continues to grow with other content.
Other Chinese-owned platforms, such as Xiaohongshu – known as RedNote among US users – have seen rapid growth in the US and UK.
Still, some suggest that no app can really replace TikTok, especially the TikTok Shop feature, which allows users to buy products directly from the video, and makes a lot of money for US creators.
Craig Atkinson, CEO of digital marketing agency Code3, says there is no direct competitor that people can easily move to – and says his agency has signed a new contract with a client to build a TikTok Shop campaign until the end of December.
