On the night of January 18, American TikTok users logging in for a last-minute scroll before the highly anticipated U.S. ban were met with an unexpected twist: access had already been terminated. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, shut down the app just under two hours before the ban was set to be enforced. Now, the app’s 170 million users in the U.S. are presented with a pop-up notification suggesting that president-elect Donald Trump might somehow step in to rescue the platform. This sudden closure marked the end of months of legislative and legal conflicts leading up to the implementation of the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” a statute aimed at applications overseen by foreign adversaries. However, many did not predict the extensive repercussions of the law, which has resulted in the elimination of several other popular applications.
ByteDance, the only company specifically mentioned in the legislation, proactively removed its applications and related platforms from U.S. app stores just prior to the law taking effect. This action underscored the influential role the China-based firm plays in influencing the digital habits of American users. Other applications affiliated with foreign-controlled entities or businesses regarded as adversaries could potentially encounter a similar outcome in the future.
Here’s a summary of the key apps that are no longer accessible in the U.S. as of January 19:
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### **TikTok Studio and TikTok Shop Seller Center**
Alongside the primary TikTok platform, ByteDance removed its auxiliary tools for creators and businesses. TikTok Studio, a video creation and scheduling application, and TikTok Shop Seller Center, a management interface for e-commerce sellers, were both taken offline.
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### **Marvel Snap**
The well-known card game Marvel Snap, which enjoys millions of U.S. players, became an unanticipated victim of the TikTok ban. While it was developed by the California-based studio Second Dinner, it is published by ByteDance-owned Nuverse. Other games published by Nuverse, including *Earth: Revival – Deep Underground* and *Ragnarok X: 3rd Anniversary*, are still available for the time being, according to *The Verge*. Nuverse has not acknowledged the situation.
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### **CapCut**
CapCut, a popular video editing application favored by meme-makers and fancam enthusiasts, was also removed from U.S. app stores. Given its affiliation with ByteDance, many had expected its inclusion in the ban and alerted users beforehand.
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### **Lemon8**
Lemon8, an app owned by TikTok and marketed as a blend of Pinterest and Instagram, was also taken down on January 18. Since its launch in 2023, the app had gained popularity among fitness and wellness influencers, particularly as discussions about banning TikTok grew louder.
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### **Hypic**
Hypic, ByteDance’s free photo-editing tool, became another victim of the ban. Heavily promoted on TikTok, Hypic enabled users to add AI-powered face filters to their images and videos.
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### **Lark and Associated Apps**
Lark, ByteDance’s productivity suite aimed at competing with Google Workspace, was similarly removed. This encompasses its related applications, such as Lark Team Collaboration, Lark Rooms Display, and Lark Rooms Controller.
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### **Gauth**
Gauth, previously known as GauthMath, is an AI-powered learning app developed by ByteDance. Once one of the most popular educational applications on the Apple App Store, it reportedly reached 200 million users worldwide by 2024. It has also been pulled from U.S. app stores.
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### **Other Apps**
Numerous other ByteDance-affiliated applications that are popular internationally were also removed. These consist of:
– **Melolo**: A short-form video application operated by ByteDance subsidiary Poligon, favored in Southeast Asia.
– **Fizzo**: An e-book service also managed by Poligon.
– **Tokopedia**: A widely used e-commerce platform in Indonesia.
Poligon, located in Singapore, is a ByteDance subsidiary, and its applications were caught up in the wider crackdown.
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### **What’s Still Available?**
Interestingly, the Chinese-owned platform RedNote (Xiaohongshu) remains up for download in the U.S. Despite being subject to China’s stringent data privacy and censorship regulations, RedNote has experienced a rise in popularity as users consider it a potential alternative to TikTok.
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As the situation unfolds following TikTok’s expulsion, many Americans are resorting to VPNs in an effort to circumvent the ban, with varied effectiveness. Meanwhile, the further consequences of the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” are yet to be determined, as other foreign-owned applications may face similar challenges moving forward.