TikTok Still Thriving Amid Congressional Ban
In case you missed it, TikTok is now banned on all devices that have been issued by the United States House of Representatives.
It’s not putting a dent in the company’s growth, though. The app is one of the most popular downloaded social media services on the American app market and has been downloaded 68+ Million times in the U.S. over the past year, including a whopping 8.7 Million times since December.
While we’re not sure you can truthfully call Instagram a rival of TikTok, given the overwhelming popularity of TikTok (and the fact that repurposed TikTok videos litter themselves all over Instagram’s Reels initiative), it’s safe to say that TikTok’s allure is iron-clad. Many users (including this writer that is currently speaking to you) can attest that the social media program has a far superior algorithm to apps like Instagram and Facebook, an actual chance at growth and virality, and in many documented cases, has created stars, tastemakers, and more just because of their use and success on the platform.
Data from January 19th, 2022 – January 18th, 2023, provided by 42Matters shows the downloads for both Apple’s App Store and Google Play store prior to the legislative changes:
And here is the data after:
42Matters notes “Dates of interest here include December 13th, when a bipartisan group of lawmakers first introduced the ban in Congress, and December 29th, when President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law.”
While it may have stopped people in the government from creating videos on their work-issued devices, it does not seem like TikTok is going anywhere for the time being.
To learn more, visit 42Matters blog post.