The celebration ended—for a second, anyway.
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It was like a celebration on the finish of the world. Earlier than TikTok’s proprietor, ByteDance, pulled the plug on the app final evening—getting forward of the official ban in the US, which took impact at this time—the app’s most devoted customers have been going overboard. I watched somebody with their hand up a Kermit puppet having (or perhaps simply performing) an emotional breakdown over the app’s impending demise, the frog’s mouth gaping towards the ceiling on livestream. Duke Depp, who first went viral on the app for doing a striptease to Akon’s “I Wanna Love You” whereas dressed as Willy Wonka, gyrated on the ground to “WAP.” Earlier this week, Meredith Duxbury, Lexi Hidalgo, and different high-profile creators revealed that a few of their most profitable content material had been constructed on half-truths—one really didn’t use as a lot make-up as marketed; one other had really performed solely half the exercises they’d talked about on their channel. You’re mad about it? Nothing you are able to do now! TikTok’s over.
Or a minimum of, it was for a second. President-Elect Donald Trump posted on his Fact Social account that he’ll signal an government order after he’s inaugurated tomorrow to assist carry TikTok again on-line. TikTok stated at this time that it’s “within the strategy of restoring service” already.
Nonetheless, assuming that it does really come again for good—Trump’s plan is way from a certain factor in the long term—TikTok could by no means be the identical after this. Social media is a fragile factor; an excessive amount of downtime means customers can divert their consideration elsewhere, and too many makes an attempt to curate the tradition can destroy its magic altogether. Final evening, I took in as a lot of it as I might earlier than the shutdown. What wouldn’t it appear to be when the web’s brain-rottiest app died—when all the app’s customers knew nicely prematurely that the factor was on its manner out? For almost six hours, I mainlined TikTok’s feeds. It was like Cabaret by way of the kaleidoscope of the infinite scroll.
Many customers held a funeral of types, dancing in all black. The Subsequent Stage Chef breakout TikTok star Tini made her viral mac and cheese for the event. Fancam editors posted smash-cut compilations of highlights from the app’s near-decade run. Folks shared the creators they’d miss essentially the most, the folks they needed to thank for being a part of their TikTok journey. Adam Ray Okay, a TikTok star recognized for his raveled and brash character, Rosa, dressed up as her one final time, full with stripes of bronzer and misplaced false lashes, to say goodbye to the app.
The app slowly started to lose capabilities all through the night: Feedback froze and the refresh button lagged. Posting movies turned tough. Nervously, I exited the app and went again in. Feedback reappeared. I breathed. Watched one other video. A pixelated shark superimposed onto stick-figure legs walked by way of a void, set to “It’s Quiet Uptown” from the Hamilton soundtrack.
In my favorites folder, I scrolled by way of the lots of of audio clips I’d bookmarked over 5 years. The very first clip was a lo-fi remix of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Scorching Woman” that I saved in 2020. I used to be in school once I first began utilizing the app, downloading it to study the “Blueberry Faygo” dance, and now I’m haggard on the age of 26. A lot has modified—I moved to a brand new metropolis, started my profession, skilled heartbreak for the primary time, and posted by way of all of it. The Pedro Pascal fancam edit cradled me after I skilled my first layoff. The dense-bean-salad woman wiped my tears once I felt like I used to be about to teeter off the sting on the grocery retailer. Chloe Ting’s two-week problem received me by way of lockdown along with her guarantees to assist her followers attain an itty-bitty, teeny-tiny waist and a huge, earth-shattering butt.
Everybody’s expertise with TikTok is, famously, particular person: The algorithm appears to know us higher than we all know ourselves, or so the cliché goes. However the app has additionally meaningfully formed points of our tradition and politics, typically for good, typically for dangerous, as with all social platform. Many individuals discovered group on TikTok. BookTok reworked the publishing trade; creators inspired viewers to help indie booksellers and induced books gross sales to skyrocket. It performed a political function: “TikTok teenagers,” with assist from Okay-pop stans, flooded Trump’s 2020 Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally with faux ticket bookings simply to mess with him. Reporters like Bisan Owda supplied distinctive, on-the-ground reporting about life in Gaza. TikTok’s feeds pushed big quantities of physique dysmorphia, prejudice, and alt-right traces of thought—the app has additionally been a chief suspect within the decline of consideration spans, the rise of hyper-consumerism, and the overall deterioration of media literacy. Such a consequential app deserved a significant fade-out. Maybe a smooth vignette or fade to black, or a closing curtain over the entire thing. Possibly a rolling-credits music or a bagpipe solo to play us out.
We didn’t get that, in fact. Only a pop-up notification as I used to be halfway by way of a video. That is the character of TikTok, and actually the web total: at all times shifting; right here at this time, gone tomorrow. After which, perhaps …