This morning brought the news update from Capitol Hill that audiences across the globe have been anxiously waiting for: The United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will uphold the law regarding a TikTok ban due to national security and data privacy concerns.
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While the phrase ‘TikTok ban’ has been trending recently, it is important to note that this is not necessarily an outright ban. Under this law, parent company ByteDance could still sell TikTok to avoid it being banned in the U.S. although so far, it has refused to do so.
Now the prospect of TikTok going dark in the near future looms over many U.S. users who are already expressing disappointment at this historic SCOTUS decision, one that the bipartisan justice coalition handed down unanimously.
Following a unanimous ruling from the United States Supreme Court, TikTok may be banned in the U.S. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
TikTok ban held up by Supreme Court
This Supreme Court decision to uphold the TikTok ban is likely promoting many questions from platform users and content creators. If TikTok is banned in the U.S., though, what will it mean for other social media platforms?
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The SCOTUS TikTok ban ruling is likely coming at an excellent time for one of the platform’s biggest rivals.
While TikTok’s future has been presided over by the Supreme Court, a fellow social media leader has been in the crossfires of the court of public opinion.
Meta Platforms (META) , the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is also facing an uncertain future. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to end fact-checking on Facebook and replace it with a system similar to X’s Community Notes, implemented by Elon Musk, has sparked controversy.
“Interest in searches related to getting off Meta platforms rose this week, particularly in the last two days. Google searches for terms like “how to permanently delete Facebook” hit a maximum score of 100 — which Google Trends defines as peak popularity,” reported TechCrunch following the fact-checking announcement.
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Things have been looking grim lately. But at its darkest hour, Meta may just be saved by the zero-sum nature of social media.
TikTok Ban could send users rushing to Instagram
Even if Zuckerberg’s decision is turning users against Meta, the Supreme Court may have just inadvertently handed it a lifeline.
If TikTok users are unable to view and upload the videos they love, they will likely seek them out on Instagram, widely seen as the most similar platform.
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Instagram is taking full advantage of the looming TikTok ban, as evidenced by its current rollout of new features that seem to mirror the TikTok user experience by highlighting reels.
According to Meta, these features will “make it easier for users to discover the content that friends and followers are liking on the platform.”
While fellow Chinese-owned app Rednote is also maneuvering to attract former TikTok users, reports indicate that content creators are likely to face more barriers toward monetizing their followings, as the app is mostly popular in China.
This creates a key opportunity for Instagram to boost its user growth at a critical time. The Supreme Court TikTok ban ruling may go down in history as the phenomenon that saved Meta Platforms.
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