TikTok’s shutdown a ‘clever’ move to curry favour ahead of Trump inauguration, analysts say

TikTok, Lemon8, CapCut and other platforms went dark for a few hours on Sunday in response to a law that requires US firms to no longer host ByteDance services unless the Beijing-based firm divests certain apps. President-elect Donald Trump promised to offer some reprieve once he reassumed the presidency at noon on Monday.

“TikTok US anticipated the public’s outcry when the platform went dark, and knew that Trump would seize the opportunity to be the ultimate fixer and deal maker,” said Alex Capri, a lecturer at the National University of Singapore’s Business School and author of Techno-Nationalism: How it’s Reshaping Trade, Geopolitics and Society. It was “a clever pre-emptive move” ahead of Trump’s inauguration, he added.

“What matters to TikTok is market and valuation. Why not use the incident to improve its reputation and expand the market?” said Zhao Zhijiang, a researcher at Beijing-based think tank Anbound. “For Chinese people who don’t use TikTok, they will admire the app and its parent ByteDance.”

Alejandro Reyes, scholar-in-residence at the Asia Society Hong Kong Centre, called the move a “theatrical conversion and dramatic”, which a “performative Trump likes, so he’s now invested in showing that he can get a deal done”.

“I would assume that Trump would think this would be a fun, attention-grabbing inauguration master stroke, as if he needed more attention than he already is attracting this week,” he added.