Discussions over TikTok’s ban in the United States have been held globally over the past few days. Despite being the world’s fourth most-used social media platform, with over 170 million users in America, a recently enacted law prohibited its use within the country’s borders starting Sunday, January 19. This move is tied to TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance, a prominent tech Chinese organisation that’s also the parent company of Lemon8, a lifestyle community-focused app, and the video editing app CapCut, which is also currently banned in the US.

America’s concerns with TikTok primarily stem from its parent company’s ties to the Chinese government, fears about the exchange of sensitive US data and the probable orchestration of misinformation. These legitimate alarms rendered TikTok’s legal kickbacks abortive, leading to the social network eventually going dark in the US on Sunday — though only for a few hours — before it was revived following an intervention by President Donald Trump, who is seeking a more official amicable solution after his inauguration on Monday. The intervention eventually came as a 75-day delay in enforcement order, issued just hours after the presidential oath. But this saga is far from over. 

While this may appear to be an America vs. TikTok issue on paper, its implications are expected to ripple globally. For instance, foreign content creators, creatives, or influencers with a significant American TikTok audience would be dealt a major blow if the video-sharing network’s ban is upheld. There’s also the possibility of other countries taking it as a cue to ban the social network, as suggested by the BBC’s Joe Tidy, who drew parallels with previous cases like China’s Huawei and Russia’s Kaspersky. These companies were ousted from major markets after initially being banned by a country over national security concerns.

Being already banned in populous regions like India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan doesn’t bode well for TikTok, and more increasingly worrying is the prospect of losing its US users. Amidst this uncertainty and the anticipation of Trump’s next moves, TikTok’s competitors, Bluesky and X, have launched new video feed features, as they seek to capitalise on TikTok’s predicament.

X sprung to announce a dedicated video vertical feed for its US users on Sunday. The feature enables instant access to video content on the platform and can be accessed via a video tab in the app’s bottom bar. This is expected to roll out to other regions subsequently, based on the America-first update strategy most of the social networks have been deploying in recent times.

“An immersive new home for videos is rolling out to users in the US today,” X tweeted on Sunday.

Similarly, Bluesky’s new video feed offers a trending video-only timeline specific to custom feeds, accessible under the search tab on its mobile app.

“We had to get in on the video action, too — Bluesky now has custom feeds for video! Like any other feed, you can choose to pin these or not. Bluesky is yours to customise,” the company announced in a post.

It’s an overall turbulent period for ByteDance and its extensions. Following CapCut’s removal from US app stores on Sunday in accordance with the law affecting TikTok, Meta has announced a new video editing app, Edits. The emergence of Meta’s Edits in this niche is expected to compete heavily with CapCut once it launches in February.