It’s not exactly clear what will happen to TikTok at 12 a.m. on Jan. 19. According to Reuters, TikTok leadership will comply with the rapidly approaching ban by “going dark.” According to the Biden administration, they’re not going to enforce the law, and the app will continue to be available. Either way, for the most nervous among TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users, the search to find a new home for their content is on. Lucky for them, almost every social media platform thinks they have an answer. But will any of these courtships be successful?
As an app, TikTok thrived because of its discoverability. On its for-you-page, which is powered by a proprietary algorithm owned by parent company ByteDance, the infinite scroll keeps users engaged on the app by constantly exposing them to new creators and trends that the algorithm predicts will align with their interests. It also has in-app editing software with usability that means even the newest of editors can learn.
At the very beginning of the app’s popularity in 2020, this discovery capability turned regular posters into household names and industry staples. And even for those whose goal wasn’t to be a celebrity, TikTok’s recently added Shop feature, and the thousands of coupons and discounts it offers every week allowed small businesses to gain real revenue on the app. Not every platform is video-based — and replacing the behemoth that TikTok had become in the U.S. seems like a gargantuan task. But platforms seem to be wooing new users not by pretending to be a one-to-one replacement of the app, but by picking one successful aspect of TikTok and promising to do better than ByteDance’s biggest U.S. property ever could.
Substack
When people think of Substack, the publishing platform that hosts some of the biggest and highest-paying newsletters of the day, front-facing, short-form video content doesn’t necessarily come to mind. But according to the company, the platform has upgraded its video capabilities, including letting anyone with at least 10 subscribers, paid or unpaid, stream live from their pages — and they’re seeing data that suggests writers who add videos see revenue grow twice as fast.
“With a potential TikTok ban looming, we want to help creators save their audiences, and build a sustainable livelihood of subscribers, before they lose what they’ve built,” Chris Best, Substack’s CEO, tells Rolling Stone. “[Substack] gives video creators, podcasters, and writers the ultimate power: true independence through audience ownership.”
YouTube
YouTube has spent the past four years promoting its own short-form video content section, YouTube Shorts, which premiered in 2020. Many users in India — which banned TikTok not long before Shorts premiered — have found a home there, and even before the U.S. moved to ban it in earnest, hundreds of prominent TikTok creators used it to create robust YouTube followings. There, they crosspost their content as a way to take advantage of the platform’s monetization programs. YouTube hasn’t made any specific announcement about courting new users (and they declined Rolling Stone‘s request for comment), but it’s most likely because they’ve been capturing some of TikTok’s biggest names since 2020.
Snap
Snap also already boasts an overwhelming amount of content from big-time creators like Charli D’Amelio, Loren Gray, and Alix Earle. These folks can monetize videos and story posts, which can mean a weekly windfall for a dedicated poster. According to a company spokesperson, Snap had a 50-percent growth in content in 2024, making them feel well-positioned to welcome a host of new users. The company also recently announced a new monetization program in December, which pays creators for Spotlight videos over one minute.
Tumblr
There’s also been interest from sites that most posters have assumed — perhaps incorrectly — are well past their heyday. In 2014, the blogging platform Tumblr created an era-defining look and was populated by photosets of skinned knees and ripped tights, cigarettes, Doctor Who gif sets, and plenty of moody song lyrics typewritten over stormy backgrounds. Even after changing ownership twice, Tumblr has remained a home for niche fandoms and inside jokes that could only be discovered through intense curation.
Tumblr’s scroll tactic is similar to TikTok’s but requires users to follow individual accounts they like in order to populate their feed. But in the past two years, admins at the site have introduced the Communities section as a way to let Tumblr posters directly interact with their fandoms — reminiscent of Tik Tok’s aptly named Tok sections. The pages feel like a cross between a Discord Chat, public Instagram, and Tumblr’s searchable post tags but are a way for creators who might be more used to TikTok’s algorithm automatically connecting like-minded posters.
Ari Levine, head of partnerships, tells Rolling Stone that the site believes Tumblr should be the option many TikTokers head to because of their history cultivating connection across genres. “During a time where it feels like the internet is imploding, changes are being made and platforms are on the brink of shuttering, Tumblr has, for almost 18 years, been a social media nook for people all over the world,” Levine says.
Lemon8
Bytedance, TikTok’s parent company, has tried to offer TikTokers a reason to stay close. In the weeks leading up to the ban, TikTok has integrated its sister app Lemon8 into the platform. Lemon8 combines the video posting of TikTok but lays it out in a static homepage similar to Pinterest or Instagram. Bytedance is allowing users to sign up with their existing TikTok accounts, and notify their followers they’ve joined the other platform. It’s unclear how many TikTokers have joined Lemon8.
Fanbase
While established companies continue to vie for creators’ attention, the nature of TikTok’s loss has left some users reeling over how easily their livelihoods and platform was taken away. It’s especially important given how recently Elon Musk’s purchase of X (formerly Twitter) effectively destroyed the product for a lot of American users. Isaac Hayes III — son of Isaac Hayes — is the founder of Fanbase, a crowdfunded social app aiming to directly compete with bigger brands by prioritizing transparent monetization.
“We empathize deeply with the TikTok community in the United States because they’ve poured so much time, energy, and passion into growing that platform, only to have it all put in jeopardy,” Hayes tells Rolling Stone. “We know how much this means to them, and we’re committed to being a space where they can keep thriving and building without fear of losing what they’ve worked so hard to create.”
As Sunday draws closer, there’s still a chance that the TikTok ban could be stayed. On Friday, the Supreme Court voted to uphold the current ban, leaving the app’s only options a company decision to sell, or a last-ditch effort from an American billionaire; that same day, Biden seemingly backtracked his approval of the ban he signed into law — with unnamed administration officials saying the president will not fine companies that keep TikTok available in their App Stores. But for the average TikTok user, what seems to be emerging, regardless of what happens to TikTok or what platform they choose, is the disheartening realization that any new profiles — and hopeful earnings — are still in the hands of someone else.