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TikTok ban: data reveals sharp traffic decline and rapid shift to alternatives
- jonny_eh 2y agoWhy not 100%?
- pimlottc 2y agoIt’s a 85% drop in traffic, not access. People are still clicking on links, apps are still trying to connect, etc.
- a12k 2y agoIt’s not only TT but all Bytedance owned domains. Also this is DNS so still lots of queries to see the new update page.
- carstenhag 2y agoThey monitor DNS stats, seems plausible some devices already had their tiktok domains cached
- robswc 2y agoNot to be on a high horse but I would actually love if these "scroll" apps all disappeared. So much time collectively (myself included) being spent on nonsense. I have a timer on mine to only let me spent 15 minutes and it just goes by so fast. I'll see something funny or something I like maybe 1/25 videos. I know I should and could just delete it but my friends send me stuff and usually its pretty good stuff... it just hooks you in tho.
- agumonkey 2y agoIt would be funny to have accounting of time spent on scrolling or mainly-scroll apps, per country or globally.
- amazingamazing 2y agoI’ve never understood this take - no one is being forced to use this stuff. Don’t use it personally if you don’t like it.
- a12k 2y agoSome things are so incredibly harmful for society it is in the governments interest to regulate those things.
- anon7000 2y agoSure, but this isn’t remotely about that. If it was, we’d get some privacy laws and bans on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
- ceejayoz 2y agoWe should, but we won’t. “We need to do something” and “we will do something” are not the same.
- a12k 2y agoSeemed like the comment was. It mentioned wanting to see banning all scrolling apps and was implying because they cause addiction. Did you sense a different implication from the poster?
- gurraman 2y agoI don't know about ban, but parents today are so totally disconnected from the dangers associated with scrolling. Kids today live in their phones. The ones that stay away are going to have such a competitive advantage. So maybe not forbid, albeit that would really serve the community, but the goverment should get off their asses and start informing schools and parents about what their kids are doing to themselves. But it is a super-difficult problem to solve, because a lot of parents depend on just letting their kids sit with their phones a couple of hours every day to enable wfh etc (or in worse cases, go out with friends to socialize). My wife is super-aware and is a stay-at-home mom and even she thinks it is a real challenge (mostly because of what friends are allowed to do). We have rules that say no screens (with exceptions for research, school work, some programming) during weekdays. We banned TikTok and Roblox years ago. The kids get 1 hour per day during weekends. These rules, when my wife introduced them, made a HUGE difference. They're different kids (they get so bored they clean their rooms, play chess, read books, play with Lego, don't have problems with their chores etc).
- whimsicalism 2y agomaybe we should have a system where you let the government know and it bans it for you. but frankly, i’m sorry you struggle with addiction to this, i get healthy use out of it - and i would prefer not to be punished for your lack of self control
- robswc 2y agoI'm not addicted to it. I have a 15 minute timer and it locks me out of the app after 15 minutes... and even 15 minutes feels like too much sometimes. I'm not arguing that it should be banned. I'm saying I simply wish these scrolling apps didn't exist. I'm sure people get a nice high from heroin. I wish that simply didn't exist too.
- rolothrow 2y agoI think TikTok was the cleanest of it, in that the social aspect was non existent (other than sharing links to friends as modern equivalent of small talk). The most toxic combo is having fomo as a Hook (social for fb/Instagram, laboral for LinkedIn, etc) pushing you to check frequently and then being hit with the unending feed once inside. At the very least I think we should separate the scroll apps and the social networks by law.
- jimbob45 2y agoVine was the cleanest and the fact that anyone is using BlueSky or any Dorsey-endorsed product after he killed Vine is the strongest possible evidence of the Gell-Mann effect.
- robswc 2y agoThe fact Twitter bought Vine and just shut it down still blows my mind. Sometimes I wonder what things would look like if they kept it alive. At the very least, I don't think Elon could have bought Twitter.
- robswc 2y agoYea. I'm not even arguing for any policies right now, just wishfully thinking it could all disappear. Policies are complex. Headcanon where short form content never existed is easy :)
- electrondood 2y ago"Infinite scroll" apps are harvesting your attention for ad revenue. That's what they are designed to do.
- xnx 2y agoAbsolutely. Also TV, newspapers, radio, streaming services, billboards, gas pumps, professional sports, etc.
- TulliusCicero 2y agoWould love to see parity in these sorts of trade restrictions between the US and China. Me personally, then I'd have zero problems with TikTok being PRC-owned. As it stands, foreign businesses operating in China are much more constrained, and laws they must comply with are enormously more invasive (e.g. censorship) than going the other way.
- kyrra 2y agoFor those that disagree with the above: Reciprocity is an important part of trade. China is making these choices, and the US is just putting things on a level playing field.
- that_guy_iain 2y agoThose laws also apply to Chinese companies operating in China too. They have different stuff for outside of China. For example, TikTok's algorithm which is the general use one is AFAIK banned in China.
- TulliusCicero 2y agoCorrect, TikTok itself is banned in China, which makes the complaints about it being banned in the US even more hilarious.
- whimsicalism 2y agoi think this is a fun tack but personally i should be allowed to read and watch whatever i want even if China is a bad actor
- TulliusCicero 2y agoTrade has been within the purview of the government, every government really, to regulate since basically forever. It's not a content-based restriction, and yeah, trade wars can kinda suck, even for end consumers, no denying that.
- 2y ago
- fldskfjdslkfj 2y agoWill be ironic if TikTok is unbanned and Chinese apps only gain more popularity from this whole ordeal.
- bobosha 2y agoStreisand effect in full display.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoAll the doomscroll apps are dangerous in terms of addiction and mental health. Even something with a less effective algorithm, like YouTube shorts, is incredibly addictive.
- andrepd 2y agoShareholder value is the only metric by which to evaluate human endeavour in 2025. I have zero hope that social media will be reigned in. With tech oligarchs capturing the US government I have less than zero hope.
- accrual 2y agoCounter-point: it's only "doom" if one configures it that way with their interaction. My FYP had a lot of positivity, pro-mental health, art, technology, and creativity type content on it. I actively filtered politics and other draining topics from my feed until I never saw it.
- fintler 2y agoLate yesterday I was blocked, but today I have access again. Same source IP.
- nickthegreek 2y agoTikTok is back up in the USA.
- naveen99 2y agoAnd it’s back. Thank trump. I guess it’s time to binge on TikTok for another 90days.
- maniacwhat 2y agoWhatever you think of the ban, it looks like the Republicans played the politics game very successfully here. 1. Get the ban to come in a day before Trump enters office. While the opposition is in power. 2. Get them to announce to all their market that trump will save the app. 3. Swoop in and save the day. I think the young generation will remember Trump as the man who rescued tiktok.
- halJordan 2y agoCertainly doesn't help that he has Shou Zi Chew kowtowing about how Trump saved the app and how Trump beat the "others'" unmitigated censorship
- neuroelectron 2y agoToo bad they're just replacing it with Little Red Book. Funny how Obama legalized propagandizing the nation and China does it better and moves faster than our lazy, corrupt politicians.
- neilv 2y ago> (and Surge to Alternatives) Jiminy Cricket, people. It's the weekend. Try to pretend you're not addicted. Let yourself get bored, and find something constructive to do. (To put my money where my mouth is, no HN for me for rest of weekend. uBlock Origin reminder filter: `||ycombinator.com^$important`)
- yannis 2y agoFor the first time in history, US and Chinese can communicate directly with each other using the Red Note app, despite the language barrier. I think this is a great social experiment and if it continuous for sometime it will be interesting to get statistics on perceptions from both sides (perhaps through a detailed academic study). We need more understanding between nations and less war mongering.
- adt 2y agoExcept... >In what is perhaps the greatest irony ever, the operators of RedNote (known as Xiaohongshu) have decided to "wall off" US TikTok refugees fleeing to its service as the TikTok ban looms. The reason? The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants to prevent American influence from spreading to Chinese citizens... Many Chinese users are not happy with the influx as having "ruined" their ability to connect with "Chinese culture, Chinese values and Chinese news." https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/01/17/2146214/rednote-may-wall-off-tiktok-refugees-to-prevent-us-influence-on-chinese-users https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/01/17/2146214/rednote-may...
- floydnoel 2y agothat is all based on some reddit comments, very fake news you have shared here.
- yannis 2y agoI think we need to wait and see. So far is speculation by commenters, as per the link you posted. From a technical point of view IMHO just some geofencing is necessary in order not to change the user experience too drastically for RedNote Chinese users.
- gklitz 2y agoFor anyone who actually has the app this claim comes of like someone going “The night sky is yellow, trust me, don’t look up!” That is to say it’s so obviously false if you want to see for yourself just download the app.