After TikTok went dark in the US, its 'refugees' directed their frustration at Mark Zuckerberg
Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
- TikTok went dark for American users on Saturday night.
- TikTok users directed their anger at Mark Zuckerberg and Meta.
- TikTok began returning on Sunday after Trump said he'd issue an executive order delaying a ban.
The hate train started almost immediately after TikTok went dark.
"Why do you ruin everything you touch," one Instagram user wrote.
"Btw tik tok is a better app. Reels will never be tik tok, reels only exist cus of tik tok. You stole stories from snap chat and you made threads cus of twitter," another wrote.
"You are hated by 170 million people," wrote yet another.
All these comments from so-called TikTok 'refugees' showed up on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's most recent Instagram post, which was posted shortly after TikTok went dark for American users on Saturday night. The video of a surfing Zuckerberg, which was initially filled with Instagram users lauding his skills, was quickly overrun with angry users.
Their frustration may be short-lived. TikTok announced Sunday it was 'restoring service' after President-election Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order on Monday delaying the ban.
For those few hours, however — and for the days leading up to the potential ban — TikTok users directed their ire at Meta apps like Instagram and Facebook. A flyer promoting a boycott of the apps — dubbed "Lights Out Meta" and scheduled from January 19 to 26 — circulated on Reddit.
Others flocked to RedNote, another Chinese-owned app, and Lemon8, TikTok's sister app, the fate of which appears to be following that of TikTok.
On X, users said their frustrations stemmed in part from the US government citing national security concerns as a reason to ban TikTok.
When the Supreme Court upheld the law on Friday that requires TikTok to divest its US-based operations or effectively cease operations, the justices said it was "necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok's data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary."
Some X users said that stance is hypocritical because American-based apps like Facebook have also shared user data with foreign entities. Facebook said it had data-sharing partnerships with at least four Chinese electronics companies — including Huawei — in 2018, according to The New York Times. The outlet reported that American intelligence officials had previously flagged Huawei as a national security threat.
More recently, senators sent a letter to Zuckerberg questioning Meta about documents showing that Facebook developers in China and Russia had access to user data, according to Reuters. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio shared the letter on his website in 2023.
"It appears from these documents that Facebook has known, since at least September 2018, that hundreds of thousands of developers in countries Facebook characterized as 'high-risk,' including the People's Republic of China (PRC), had access to significant amounts of sensitive user data," the letter read.
One X user cited The New York Times article about Facebook's data-sharing partnerships with Chinese companies.
"Folks forgot about this with all the focus on TikTok, but Meta/Facebook was selling your data to China for years," the user wrote.
As some American TikTok users regained access to their accounts, they celebrate on competing social media sites.
"MY TIKTOK IS WORKING ITS BACK EVERYONE," one X user wrote.
A representative for Meta did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.