A Weekend of Social Media Chaos: TikTok's Ban and Instagram's Shifts

TikTok experienced a sudden ban on Saturday, January 18th, at approximately 9:30 PM EST, leaving users and creators in confusion. During this period, ByteDance’s other app, CapCut, also shut down and remains inaccessible. By around 12:30 PM EST Sunday, TikTok was back online. Trump is receiving significant credit for “saving” TikTok, even being mentioned in the app’s notification about its return.

What is Happening on Monday, January 20th?

Trump has announced plans to issue an executive order to delay the ban’s implementation by 90 days, providing time to negotiate a deal that he claims will protect national security. According to his statement on Truth Social:

“The order will confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”

This executive order does not permanently prevent the ban but merely extends the timeline. Until recently, Trump’s approach to TikTok’s future remained vague. In a surprising turn, he justified his actions by stating:

“Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.”

To stay operational in the U.S., TikTok will likely need to make significant concessions. Trump has proposed a 50% U.S. ownership stake in a joint venture, asserting:

“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands, and allow it to stay up. Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars—maybe trillions.”

He envisions a partnership between TikTok’s current owners and new U.S. stakeholders, with the U.S. government retaining significant control.

Instagram Reacts with New Features

Instagram has seized the opportunity to attract TikTok users by introducing new features that mimic TikTok’s platform:

1. Vertical Profile Feed: Instagram has officially launched a vertical feed for profiles, moving away from the classic square grid view. Graphics should now be created to fit this feed, away from 1080x1080 and now to 1080x1350.?
2. Customized Feeds: Following Mosseri’s update about the vertical profile grid, he announced the ability to customize thumbnails for posts already published, allowing users to zoom in/focus on a certain part of the image for their cover. With this announcement he also noted that highlights are moving to the grid along with the ability to re-arrange your entire grid to make it whatever you want. Lastly, they’re adding the ability to post directly to your grid, in case you want to bypass feed entirely.
3. 3-Minute Reels: Instagram has extended its Reel duration from 90 seconds to 3 minutes. This change aligns with TikTok’s longer video format, which has a maximum duration of 10 minutes. This adjustment comes after the discontinuation of IGTV, which allowed hour-long videos but struggled to gain traction. See Mosseri’s post for more info.
4. New Video Editing App: On Sunday, January 19th, Instagram’s Adam Mosseri announced a high-quality video editing app set to launch next month. The app will allow users to:

• Record with a high-quality camera.
• Share drafts with friends.
• Publish videos to Instagram and other platforms.
• Gain insights into video performance.

Is Instagram Shifting?

With the influx of TikTok users, Instagram is experiencing a shift towards more casual, “real” content. This trend reflects TikTok’s authentic and unfiltered style, which contrasts with Instagram’s historically polished aesthetic. Over the weekend many creators are saying goodbye to curated feeds and embracing the raw, “in-the-moment” vibe of TikTok.

However, a lot of users are frustrated with Instagram’s algorithm after perfecting their personalized feeds on TikTok for years. Many are also noting frustrations with Instagram’s poor search functionality, not allowing them to easily find what they are looking for as well as users attempting to boycott Instagram due to their frustrations with Meta.

Whether or not TikTok’s ban becomes permanent, this evolution towards more casual content on Instagram could be a positive change for Instagram and users voicing their frustrations on certain aspects of Instagram could push them to make some of these needed changes.?

Is Meta Purchasing TikTok?

There has been a lot of talk this weekend about Meta purchasing TikTok along with a lot of conspiracies from TikTok users making their case of why they think Meta has purchased TikTok.

From users speculating that the near 12-hour ban was to transfer TikTok’s servers over to Meta’s (not proven to be true and would not be as easy as users are making it seem), to pointing out that Shou’s bio has been changed from TikTok CEO to just TikTok (this has been proven to be false and his bio never changed), to saying that Facebook created a TikTok account just this past weekend (also proven to not be true as the account has been created for over a year).?

This widespread misinformation is making users even more frustrated with Meta, with many of them vowing to not use Meta platforms and to not use TikTok if it is purchased by Meta. It’s important to note that even if Meta wanted to purchase TikTok that they likely could not because that would prove even more that they are a monopoly by owning Facebook + Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and TikTok.?

What Should Your Brand Do?

1. Avoid Reacting Too Quickly: There’s no need to rush to new platforms like RedNote (also owned by China) unless your audience is there.
2. Diversify Content: If you’re not on Instagram or YouTube, now is the time to establish a presence and start posting your content there.
3. Maintain TikTok Activity: Continue posting and running ads on TikTok as long as it remains operational and do NOT delete the app as it is currently unavailable in the app store.

The Bigger Picture

This TikTok ban is a reminder that your brand is bigger than any single platform. Diversifying your social media strategy ensures long-term stability and keeps you connected to your audience, no matter where they are. It also highlights the need for balance in our digital lives—a good opportunity to step away from screens and touch grass (or snow) sometimes.