‘Goodbye to my Chinese spy’ might be the last great TikTok trend
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images TikTokers are coping with the app's potential ban with an unusual trend: by bidding farewell to their personal Chinese spy." The trend, which pokes fun at security concerns surrounding the app, has users thanking their spy" for surveilling them and filling their For You page with entertaining content, while others proclaim that they'd rather share their data directly with the Chinese government than switch to Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts.
One post, which garnered more than 1.5 million likes, depicts an emotional scene from Squid Game with the caption, Me saying goodbye to my Chinese spy on the 19th (He perfected my algorithm)." Other TikTokers are speaking - and singing - in Chinese, while some pretend to be the spies" powering individual algorithms.
@_unsc_ original sound - _unsc_
It is a great honor to spy on you for the last few years," TikToker yanxiao1003 says in a video. I wish you all have a great life in the future... Laura from California, you shouldn't drink that much Coca-Cola, it's bad for your health."
For years, TikTok has faced scrutiny over the ties of its parent company, ByteDance, to China, with lawmakers calling it a national security threat" and accusing the app of sending US user data to China. But now the platform's ban is imminent, with the Supreme Court set to hand down a decision on whether to uphold the law that would either ban TikTok or force ByteDance to divest it by January 19th.
@yneeky#tiktokban #fyp #fyp #foryoupage
original sound - Neeky
@yanxiao1003No gathering lasts forever #tiktokban #chinesespy
See You Again - Saymon Cleiton & jhonatan Rodrigues
@lisandravcomedyAn open letter to my special Chinese Spy #tiktokban #politicstiktok #comedy
Carmen Habanera, classical opera(1283412) - perfectpanda
@cool_cammyi'm gonna miss my chinese spy
original sound - cool_cammy
@celestialdemon9909 original sound - Ancoleman9909
@matcha.mixsometimes it's the one who's always been in front of you that you never notice #tiktokban #invisiblestring #lovejourney #matchamix #data #china #datinglife
original sound - alex
@kozylifekikiTiktok ban who they can have all the info they want on me to keep tiktok from getting banned #tiktokban
original sound - JamieJL651