on Friday, The Supreme Court heard the arguments. In this case that will determine the fate of TikTok in the United States. While some users and creators have expressed hope that the ban won’t go into effect and they can continue using the app, it seems the judges are ready to uphold the law. Gradually render it unusable.
As the court’s decision unfolds, some of the platform’s nearly 170 million users in the U.S. are beginning to wonder: Where is everyone going instead?
There has been some uproar about Lemon 8a highly visual social media app focused mostly on lifestyle content similar to TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance. Resembling a hybrid between Instagram and Pinterest, Lemon8 first launched in Japan in 2020 and gradually rolled out to other countries.
In 2023, as lawmakers in Washington were grilling TikTok’s chief executive, the byte dance was quiet. Pushing creators to join Lemon8 and offer potential paid incentives. But because of its ownership, the platform may be subject to the same law as TikTok.
In recent times, there has also been increased interest in RedNote, a Chinese social media app also known as Xiaohongshu. The platform has been billed by some as a knock-off of TikTok, while also drawing comparisons to Pinterest and Instagram.
If Lemon8 and RedNote are also banned, TikTok users will be largely limited to long-established social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube, which have added features to compete with TikTok in recent years.
For example, Instagram introduced its vertical video feature, Rails, in 2020 as a response to the ByteDance-owned platform. Initially, some users found Rails left a lot to be desiredbut its vertical video format is visually similar to TikTok, and some users have already cross-posted TikTok content.
YouTube introduced YouTube Shorts that same year, allowing short-form videos of up to one minute.
And, of course, there’s the traditional YouTube video format. In recent years, there has been an emphasis on TikTok. Long videoswhich means creators and consumers alike can start creating and watching home-watchable video content on YouTube instead of YouTube Shorts.
Yamna Jawad, a recipe developer and content creator on the go. Feel the good foodie.said she felt prepared for the potential ban because she took pains to ensure she never relied too heavily on any one platform in her work.
“I was on Flipboard. I’m trying to figure out Lemon 8 and Threadssaid Ms. Jawad, who is 42 and lives in Grand Rapids, Mich.