So, after months of back-and-forth over the impending TikTok ban, you finally came to terms with the fact that your favorite app may not be around soon. Maybe you moved on and followed a few of your favorite creators on their different socials, or perhaps you found one of the many alternative platforms that best fits your interests… and maybe that one happens to be Lemon8.
Lemon8 is an app built on lifestyle content including topics like beauty, fashion, workout routines, and more. Many TikToks fans have turned to Lemon8 ahead of the possible TikTok ban, and the platform has quickly climbed up the ranks as one of the most popular new social media apps. In fact, at the moment, Lemon8 is the most popular free app on the App Store. But there is just one problem: Lemon8 is owned by ByteDance, the same company that owns TikTok. So, could Lemon8 also be banned if the TikTok ban goes through?
For those in need of an overview, in April 2024, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that would ban TikTok in the United States unless ByteDance sells the platform, a move made out of concerns that the Chinese-owned company could compromise national security. With that in mind, it would make sense that any ByteDance-owned company could be seen as a problem in the U.S., which means that Lemon8 (as well as the video editing app CapCut), could be next on the chopping block.
The ban was first proposed in a bill last year and later added to a foreign aid package that passed through both chambers of Congress easily. That ban is creeping closer and closer as Jan. 19, 2025, the day the ban is set to go into effect, is mere days away. However, President-elect Donald Trump has changed his tune regarding TikTok. While he originally attempted to ban TikTok during his first term, Trump said that TikTok has a “warm spot in my heart” at a December 2024 press conference. However, he hasn’t stated whether he plans to prevent or reverse the ban following his Jan. 20 inauguration, so, once again, there’s still a lot of unknowns in this situation.