‘Goodbye to My Chinese Spy’ – TikTok Users Mock Impending Ban

With TikTok expected to be banned in the United States on Sunday leaving 170 million users locked out, Americans on the app have been poking fun with “Thank you to my Chinese spy” videos.

In a nod to the reasons TikTok was banned in the first place, users have begun thanking their “personal Chinese spy” for recommending great content on their For You page while joking their overseers know more about them than they do themselves.

@primbyontwitch 4 days 😭 #tiktokban #jynxzi #primby #fyp @Jynxzi ♬ Jacob and the Stone (Slowed) – Emile Mosseri & sped up + slowed

Some joked that they would rather personally deliver their sensitive details to the Chinese Communist Party and its leader President Xi Jinping before joining a Meta platform like Instagram or Facebook.

@_unsc_ #tiktokban ♬ original sound – _unsc_ @yneeky #tiktokban #fyp #fypシ #foryoupage ♬ original sound – Neeky @lisandravcomedy An open letter to my special Chinese Spy 💙 #tiktokban #politicstiktok #comedy ♬ Carmen Habanera, classical opera(1283412) – perfectpanda

One TikToker, who claims to be from Chengdu, China, and professes to be “your Chinese spy” shared an emotional goodbye message in which he says “It is a great honor to spy on you for the last few years.”

@yanxiao1003 No gathering lasts forever #tiktokban #chinesespy ♬ See You Again – Saymon Cleiton & jhonatan Rodrigues

The divest-or-ban law is expected to seriously affect the livelihoods of many Americans who rely on the app for revenue and finding clients. More than 170 million people in the U.S. use the app.

Fans of TikTok have been rushing over to Red Note, also called Xiaohongshu which means “little red book” in Mandarin. Red Note currently sits at the top of the U.S. app store charts. The app offers a mix of short-form videos, pictures, and text posts. It has over 300 million users, mostly in China.

A professor of law and technology at Georgetown University, Anupam Chander, tells The New York Times that the popularity of Red Note and the Chinese spy videos prove that many Americans disagree with the ban.

“When the United States shutters a massive free expression service, which our democratic allies have not shuttered, it will make us the censor and put us in the unusual position of silencing expression,” Chander tells the newspapers. “It will make Americans who use TikTok really distrustful of the U.S. government as carrying their best interests.”

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Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.