Author: Jian Xu, Associate Professor in Communication, Deakin University

Social media giant TikTok is preparing to shut down its app in the United States this Sunday – the day that legislation signed by President Joe Biden last year banning the app takes effect. There is a slim chance this dramatic development might not happen if the US Supreme Court accepts a last minute legal argument from TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, that the ban is unconstitutional – or if ByteDance divests its US operations. But the 170 million users of TikTok in the US aren’t taking any chances. Many self-described “TikTok refugees” have begun to flee to alternative social media…