TikTok stars are bidding farewell to the popular video-sharing app after President Trump announced he was banning the Chinese-owned platform on Saturday, amid national security concerns.
The social media outlet, which allows users to create 15 or 60 second videos, has grown wildly popular among young people over the last year and is estimated to be used by more than 80million Americans.
As news of the ban broke on Friday, TikTok stars rushed to say their final goodbyes to the app where they found celebrity status, asking fans to follow them on Instagram or YouTube instead.
TikTok mega-star Dixie D’Amelio, who boasts 32 million followers, uploaded a video of herself reacting to the demise of the app
Family fame: Charli’s older sister Dixie, 18, is also a TikTok star with 31.9 million followers on the social media app
Among them was popular skin care guru SkincarebyHyram, who boasts more than 5.2 million followers.
‘Goodbye y’all. You have all made my life incredible for the last five months. I’ll miss our memories, seeing your beautiful faces and all the laughs,’ he said in a video.
TikTok mega-star Dixie D’Amelio, also uploaded a video of herself reacting to the demise of the app, staring blankly at the camera as her song ‘Be Happy’ played in the background.
Dixie, 18, and her sister Charli, 16, shot to fame over the last year through viral videos of their dancing.
Charli is currently the most-followed star on TikTok, with 75.1 million followers, while her older sister boasts 32 million.
This has led to some lucrative sponsorships for the sisters, who have partnered with Hollister and makeup brand Morphe in the last few months alone.
TikToker Tony Lopez also asked his 21million followers to find him on other social media platforms before the app shut down for good.
‘Well s**t. F**k. Follow me on Instagram I guess. This might be it,’ he said in a video.
On Friday, Trump said the popular video-sharing platform could be barred as soon as Saturday by executive order or through use of emergency economic powers.
‘As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States’ he told reporters on Air Force One as he returned from Florida.
‘Well, I have that authority. I can do it with an executive order or that [emergency economic powers].’
The president also made clear he did not support an American company to purchase TikTok’s U.S. operations after an earlier report claimed Microsoft was ‘in talks’ to acquire the platform.
Sources told The New York Times on Friday that a deal was in the works, but it was unclear where the two firms stood.
At the same time, reports had claimed Trump was planning to order TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance to give up ownership of the platform.
Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters the White House, ByteDance and potential buyers of TikTok, including Microsoft failed to produce a deal that would result in the Chinese company shedding the app’s U.S. operations.
The talks are expected to continue in the coming days.
Trump told reporters he could ban TikTok in the U.S. as soon as Saturday, while traveling back from Tampa on Air Force One Friday
TikTok’s wide popularity among American teens has brought scrutiny from U.S. regulators and lawmakers who fear their personal information could fall into the hands of government officials in Beijing
While Microsoft already owns professional social media network LinkedIn, it would face fewer regulatory hurdles in acquiring TikTok than its more direct competitors, such as FaceBook Inc, one of the sources said.
But ByteDance’s valuation expectations for TikTok of more than $50billion, and its insistence on retaining a minority stake in the app complicated deal talks, another source said.
TikTok, which has some 800million users around the globe, has raised concern among worldwide and U.S. officials for its potential threat to security, along with claims that the Chinese government is using the technology to spy on citizens.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday said the app was being looked at by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews deals by foreign acquirers for potential national security risks.
Critics have warned of the potential security threat the app could pose because of its Chinese-based parent firm, ByteDance, which has consistently denied any links to the Chinese government.
Twitter users reacted to Trump’s decision to ban TikTok, which has produced a number of young stars who now rely on it for their livelihood
The number of American users has been estimated to be as high as 80 million a month – although because the company is not publicly traded, the estimate by outside analysts is impossible to verify.
TikTok issued a statement Friday saying that, ‘While we do not comment on rumors or speculation, we are confident in the long-term success of TikTok.’
ByteDance launched TikTok in 2017, then bought Musical.ly, a video service popular with teens in the US and Europe, and combined the two. A twin service, Douyin, is available for Chinese users.
TikTok’s fun, goofy videos and ease of use has made it immensely popular, and US tech giants like Facebook and Snapchat see it as a competitive threat.
