With the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the TikTok ban Friday morning, the future of the app in America is in limbo, and some creators on the platform have started to say goodbye.
The ban goes into effect Sunday, but the Biden administration has said it won’t enforce it, leaving TikTok’s fate to President-elect Donald Trump. Trump has supported the idea of trying to save TikTok, but it’s still unclear whether or not the app will be available come Sunday.
Amid the confusion, celebrities, influencers and everyday users of the app are saying their final farewells to TikTok by posting their first-ever drafts (unposted videos that users save in the app), creating montages of some of the most viral moments on the app, laying rumors to rest and trying to sell last-minute items on TikTok Shop.
Influencer Haley Kalil, known by the username HaleyyBaylee, said goodbye to the app by clearing up a controversy she faced last year for posting a video to an audio saying, “let them eat cake” while wearing a Marie Antoniette-inspired dress during the 2024 Met Gala. At the time, many users thought that Kalil’s video was insensitive and tone-deaf, given the fact that a pro-Palestinian protest had been taking place near the gala. On Thursday, Kalil made a TikTok in which she appears to refer to the incident, writing, “TikTok literally suggested that audio after I took a pic in my dress,” then adding, “I truly had no idea what it meant. I thought it was from a chick flick,” referring to the movie the audio came from, the 2006 film, “Marie Antoniette.”
Meredith Duxbury, a TikTok star who became popular for creating makeup videos where she would apply a hefty amount of foundation on her face, made a similar video to the same phrase
“since tiktok might be getting banned there’s one secret i need to share with you,” Duxbury wrote in her video. “i did wipe some of those 10 pumps off,” referring to her famous foundation technique.
Another user paid homage to the app by posting a montage of some of the app’s most viral videos, including the #celebritydeathprank trend and the “Man in Finance” viral video. Jalaiah Harmon, the creator of a popular TikTok dance trend called the Renegade that went viral in 2019, also posted a video doing the dance.. Users also reminisced on the early days of the app by posting videos sharing their first saved sounds and the first content they had saved in their TikTok drafts.
Pop star Kesha also made a video using the audio from her hit song “TiK ToK,” writing, “Tiktok may be temporary but TiK ToK is forever.”
Users who appear to be TikTok employees have also been posting content mourning what could be their last days in the office. One of them, Lizzi Kania, posted several videos inside what appears to be one of TikTok’s office buildings and wrote, “posting tiktok office drafts since the supreme court hates joy and happiness.”
Some users are seeing the looming TikTok ban as an opportunity to stock up on items and free samples from TikTok Shop for discounted prices — and vendors on the app taking advantage of the uncertainty, announcing flash sales on TikTok Shop that they say are related to TikTok potentially going dark.
Other influencers are looking for ways to save the app. Jimmy Donaldson, a YouTuber popularly known as MrBeast, posted on TikTok on Thursday saying that he wants to purchase the app. Donaldson also added, “New CEO of Tiktok?” into his bio on the app.
“I just got out of a meeting with a bunch of billionaires — TikTok, we mean business,” Donaldson says in the video. “We have an offer ready for you, we want to buy the platform. America deserves TikTok, give me a seat at the table. Let me save this platform, TikTok.”
If TikTok is sold to a non-Chinese owner, which is mandated by the ban-or-sale law, Donaldson will be up against several billionaires, including Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who have expressed interest in purchasing the app.
In case this Sunday is truly goodbye forever, many users are now flocking to the Chinese app RedNote in hopes of finding a similar style of content on the platform.
Singer-songwriter Jaylah Hickmon, known by the stage name Doechii, posted a TikTok letting her followers know that they’d be able to find her on RedNote.
“I just wanted to come on here and say goodbye. This has been super fun,” Hickmon said. “I’ll be on the next one. I’m on RedNote so you can find me there. Also to all the kids that are stressing out about TikTok, you guys, relax. We survived Vine. You’ll survive too.”
TikTok’s sister app, Lemon8, is another app users have been migrating to, but if the ban carries through, Lemon8 would most likely go with it, as it is also owned by ByteDance.
Despite the ban being applicable only to U.S. users, creators from other countries are worried about the impact of losing their U.S.-based fans and seeing similar bans in their countries.
“It’s looking like the TikTok fan is going to happen, and I have a lot of American followers, but who knows how this is going to trickle down to the rest of the world and maybe impact TikTok globally?” popular U.K. influencer Max Balegde said in a TikTok post. “I just want to say thank you. If you have followed me for a year, two years, or the five years that I’ve been on this app, just know that you have seen me grow up. You’ve seen my life change, you’ve made my life change, and I am so incredibly grateful.”