• TikTok is veering toward a US shutdown after the Supreme Court upheld a divest-or-ban law.
• The app is set to leave app stores and may go dark on Sunday if its owner, ByteDance, doesn't divest.
• TikTok creators and their teams are tired from months of uncertainty, but cautiously hopeful too.

TikTok is in trouble.

The company is set to disappear from US app stores on Sunday due to a divest-or-ban law that requires its owner, ByteDance, to sell the app by January 19 or essentially cease operating in the country. TikTok may stop showing content in the US and "go dark" over the weekend.

For TikTok creators and their teams, ongoing uncertainty around the app's US future has sparked frustration and fatigue.

"We've been dealing with this for months," said Julian Andrews, founder of talent management firm Talentiish. "I just sort of want the situation to be over so we know how to move on."

Some in the talent community are cautiously optimistic that a solution will emerge to save TikTok. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to try to rescue the app once in office, though his options could be limited.

"So many of us are still holding out hope that it will work out," Barbara Jones, CEO of Outshine Talent, said.

Others aren't holding their breath and are instead focusing on established alternatives, such as Instagram reels and YouTube shorts, as well as challenger apps like Clapper, Flip, and RedNote.

"Many of our clients are making accounts on RedNote and Flip as well as downloading their data from the TikTok app," Jones said. "They are trying to be as prepared as possible."

Creators may be hesitant to commit to new platforms, however, when the advertising dollars are much more reliable on major players like Instagram.

Instagram is, for the most part, the platform of choice among those Business Insider spoke to who are pivoting from TikTok.

Fallen Media, which runs TikTok shows like "What's Poppin? With Davis!" said it will be heavily investing in Instagram reels, for example.

"I have suggested to my clients not to focus on any new platforms and focus on the tried and true," Andrews at Talentiish said.

In the meantime, there's still no clear answer as to what happens this weekend.

"The truth is we don't really know what's going to happen on Sunday, which I think is the crazy part," said Fallen Media CEO Sol Betesh.

Creators are exhausted and devastated to say goodbye to TikTok

As news stories around a TikTok ban swing between good news and legal defeats, some creators have sunk into despair. The Supreme Court loss on Friday hit particularly hard for those whose businesses depend on the app.

"The ruling is truly devastating for me as someone who built their platform starting on TikTok," said Sofia Bella, a TikTok creator with 4.8 million followers. "Losing the majority of my audience is a difficult reality to face, and while I'm doing everything I can to prepare, it's hard not to feel like I'm starting over."

Andrews said the job of talent manager has teetered between acting as a therapist and strategist for the creators they manage.

Some creators are actively fighting against a TikTok ban, including Vitus Spehar, who runs the news account @underthedesknews. Spehar has been covering breaking news and political developments around the divestment. They said Americans should call their senators and other representatives to demand action against the law.

Still, other creators who have experienced burnout from TikTok are welcoming a possible shift if the app goes down.

"Generally, the tone from most internet creators I've spoken to has been entirely apathetic," said Tati Bruening, a TikTok creator with 2.4 million followers. "The pacing of content creation for TikTok was a recipe for burnout."

Building a strategy for doomsday

Even as the creator economy braces for the loss of its favorite corner of the internet, this moment is a lesson for many.

"Stop building brands on social media that other people own," Jennifer Powell, a talent manager who works with creators like Tezza and Ty French, told BI. "This can and will happen again. Start your website, get newsletters going, blogs, use affiliates, turn it into a brand, and own your own little place on the web."

A TikTok ban could also be a gold rush for social media startups as they race to fill the void.

"There's never been a better time to start a creation or curation company," said Em Herrera, a former investor at Slow Ventures who recently founded a firm called Creator Venture Accelerator.

• Americans are rushing to download two Chinese social apps, days before a possible TikTok ban.
• Xiaohongshu and Lemon8 rose to the top spots on the Apple app store rankings on Monday.
• Both platforms could be subject to the same divest-or-ban law that's imperiling TikTok.

TikTok users are lamenting that the app could "go dark" in less than a week in the US due to a divest-or-ban law. At the same time, two other apps with Chinese owners have risen to the top of the Apple app store in the US.

On Monday, Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, and Lemon8, an app with the same owner as TikTok, hit the top two spots on the Apple app store rankings.

Xiaohongshu functions similarly to Instagram, but with more commerce features, while Lemon8 has been described by creators as a Pinterest-like platform.

The rush to download these apps is a bit of a head-scratcher, as they could be subject to the same divestment requirements as TikTok if the US government chooses to target them. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act applies to social platforms owned by countries that the US government views as foreign adversaries. TikTok became a political target because its owner, ByteDance, is based in China, which the US government has labeled a foreign adversary and Congress views as a national-security risk.

TikTok is clearly subject to the divest-or-ban law, as it's named in the bill's text. But ByteDance is also named, which raises the question of why its other app, Lemon8, is suddenly surging in popularity.

Christopher Krepich, the communications director for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, previously told Forbes the bill would ban Lemon8 unless ByteDance divested. A spokesperson for the committee did not immediately respond to Business Insider on whether it would apply to Xiaohongshu.

The law was written broadly and could be enforced on any company owned by a foreign adversary that permits a user to "create an account or profile to generate, share, and view text, images, videos, real-time communications, or similar content." That could include Xiaohongshu if the US government chose to target the app.

The law does have some exceptions, including apps where users "post product reviews, business reviews, or travel information and reviews." That suggests Chinese e-commerce platforms Shein and Temu would not be targeted.

ByteDance, Xiaohongshu, Apple, and Google did not respond to requests for comment.

Why users are flocking to these two apps

It's tough to say exactly what's driving mass interest in Xiaohongshu and Lemon8. Some users may be flocking to the apps to find a replacement for TikTok, while others may simply like their product features. In December, Xiaohongshu had around 300 million monthly active users globally, Bloomberg reported.

Another possibility for the downloads surge is that TikTok users are choosing the Chinese apps as a tongue-in-cheek protest of the divest-or-ban law.

"It really is just retaliation towards the government in the simplest way, but in a way that feels very native to Gen Z," said Meagan Loyst, founder of the investor collective Gen Z VCs.

If millennials pioneered "slacktivism" with online petitions, Gen Z seems to be trying something new. You might call it "trolltivism."

"This is not the first time that trolling on a large scale has happened," Loyst said, citing the 2020 incident when TikTok users purchased tickets to Trump rallies. "It's trolling the US government."