Reasons not to ban TikTok: Fans share their favorite viral videos in a last-ditch attempt to prove the platform’s value

It’s looking like TikTok’s remaining days in the United States are numbered, and the internet is already starting a memorial for the app.

The Supreme Court is currently in the midst of a case that will decide TikTok’s fate, and, as of last Friday, its future was looking bleak. American lawmakers believe the app, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, poses a threat to national security.

That fear led a bipartisan group to enact a law last April ruling that TikTok must either divest from its parent company or be banned in the U.S. by January 2025. Meanwhile, TikTok’s lawyers are arguing that the law violates the First Amendment.

A decision in the case is expected to be passed down by the end of this week. If last year’s law holds, TikTok will be banned in the U.S. starting on January 19. The looming ban has now prompted TikTok’s fans to extoll the app’s creative virtues in a last-minute bid to keep it online.

On TikTok itself, compilations of popular clips are going viral under the hashtag #goodbyetiktok, and American creators are making heartfelt videos thanking their audiences.

Over on X, users are responding in droves to a tweet asking, “what video is the reason they shouldn’t ban tiktok?” The question has amassed 125.1 million views and hundreds of responses.

Responses range across a wide scope of content, celebrating everything from silly jokes to two-minute clips that took months to film—and it’s actually sort of touching.

One user remembered a dinosaur pun that emerged mid-pandemic and amassed 4.5 million likes. In the clip, wherein an angel mistakes the word “meatier” for “meteor,” creator @lizemopetey’s strikingly emotional delivery sells an otherwise goofy premise:

https://twitter.com/106th/status/1877902485945278760

Another applauded a TikToker who traveled across three continents to see all 43 artworks featured in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The undertaking took 16 months in total, which is all boiled down into a video that’s just over a minute long:

https://twitter.com/mayplaystv/status/1878244805370695739

Then, of course, there have been references to TikTok’s endlessly inventive fashion content, including this masterpiece from fashion creator @wisdm8 interpreting the prompt “style Christmas” with some seriously jaw-dropping ensembles:

https://twitter.com/brittlakeshow/status/1878540827758153780

There has also been plenty of reminiscing about the loss of content that one could only find on TikTok, like the bizarre NPC trend that emerged in 2023—or this livestream of a Russian rave attended only by ducks, for example:

https://twitter.com/TrashchildJ/status/1877898845230707079

While TikTok will be remembered primarily for its comedy, a few posters are honoring some genuinely sweet or impactful videos in what may be the app’s last gasp. One video answers the question, “Do you think we’re friends in every universe?” with the conclusion, “Friendship is bigger than we know”:

https://twitter.com/ked_the_duck/status/1878649965897195822

Given that the Supreme Court has yet to issue an actual decision on the TikTok case, it’s certainly possible that the app could live to see another day. For now, though, it looks like the internet is set on preemptively mourning the loss.