TikTok users broke the internet Thursday in sheer panic after noticing that their likes
and view counts completely disappeared, which left so many people with one burning question:
Could we be nearing the end of TikTok?
For some, TikTok is an app that allows for free-flowing creativity and individuality,
but for others, it’s literally their means of paying rent and putting food on their table.
So when TikTokers noticed that their ‘likes’ and view counts they had worked so hard to
build up over the past year had completely vanished, sheer unadulterated panic ensued.
As you can see in this photo of TikTok’s most followed celebrity, Charli D’Amelio,
every one of her videos contained a whopping ZERO views.
Down Detector, which is a website that tracks internet outages, showed over 20,000 reports
from users experiencing the same issue with the app.
Reactions began sweeping in from concerned fans sharing comical tweets wondering how
these famous TikTokers will be able to pay rent or even pay off their new Ferraris.
One user joked, “Tiktok is Closing!
We need To Start A Gofund me For the Tiktok Stars...
Lil Hoodie And Charlesies Damleio need the money guys!
We need to help them, they must be devastated.”
Another user tweeted this photo with the caption, “How Tiktokers are feeling after they dropped
out of school to find out #TikTokDown.”
Others were more upset about the fact that they actually found the app educational, like
this user who wrote, “but actually i learned way more about other people’s cultures and
black history on tiktok than i ever did anywhere else.”
On a more serious note, some users mentioned the rumor circulating that the Trump Administration
is in talks of banning any and all Chinese apps from U.S. citizens, which includes TikTok.
However, many believe this could be the end of TikTok as a result of the app’s users
and KPop fans buying fake tickets to his recent Tulsa rally.
One user wrote, “Trump is gonna ban TikTok because he couldn't fill up a stadium in Tulsa.”
However, one of the main reasons for the potential ban is because TikTok is a Chinese-owned app,
and there have been many governmental concerns raised about whether the data collected via
the app is being sent to China as an alleged spying mechanism.
Therefore, the Trump administration has been considering banning the app as critics have
raised many issues around TikTok’s parent company ByteDance and their overall privacy
practices and its possible ties to the Chinese government.
However, good news for TikTokers who make their living off of the app -- to actually
take TikTok off Americans’ phones would be a long and tedious process.
This would most likely require the government to ‘deplatform’ TikTok by forcing app
hosts like Apple and Google to sever ties with ByteDance, as well as all other Chinese
app makers.
TikTok has since slammed claims of the platform being used as a spy mechanism, calling them
“unfounded,” and noting that with its recently hired American CEO, it has quote,
“never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked.”
In another statement issued to The Verge, TikTok revealed that the issues appear to
have been caused by “higher traffic than normal on our servers in Virginia, causing
temporary service disruptions.”
Aaaand if you have access to a map, you’d know that The White House lies on the border
of Virginia in Washington D.C… a coincidence?…
But as far as rumors that TikTok is being wiped from users’ phones due to the recent
outpour of issues it faced over the past 24 hours, thankfully TikTok’s Support team
has since revealed that it was nothing but a glitch.
The app’s official support account spoke out and confirmed that all accounts should
return back to normal with their current ‘likes’ and view counts shortly.
The account pinned their most recent Twitter update that read, “Issue update: Fix in
progress!
You should be seeing your app experience return to normal as we continue to fully resolve
things on our end.
More updates to come.”
The good news is, we can all go back to attempting to learn that one dance that we just can’t
quite get down and getting lost in the Vortex of our for you page.
For more updates on all things TikTok, you can click right over here to watch another
Clevver video.
Then be sure to let me know all your thoughts on TikTok’s potential glitch, and if you
think this could be the end of the streaming platform, right down here in the comments.
I’m your host Sussan Mourad, bye guys!