TikTok users settle in for the long fight

Hiya. While TikTok’s in a fight for its American existence, the app’s users are still scrolling away. But first...Three things you need to k [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( [by Alex Barinka]( Hiya. While TikTok’s in a fight for its American existence, the app’s users are still scrolling away. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Meta shares plunged after it [reported higher spending than anticipated]( • IBM’s weak consulting sales [overshadowed its purchase of HashiCorp]( • Memory chipmaker SK Hynix [had its fastest sales growth since 2010]( The long road ahead US President Joe Biden signed the TikTok bill into law Wednesday, giving the company’s Chinese parent, ByteDance Ltd., [270 days to sell its stake in the popular music video app or face a ban](. But conversations with users, creators and merchants on the app – and the videos still being posted – show people aren’t fleeing just yet. Advertisers may be shelling out even more to reach TikTok’s users. After the first version of the divest-or-ban bill passed in the House of Representatives, TikTok saw a 20% increase in weekly advertising spending compared with the prior week, [according to data intelligence platform, Tracer](. Take Scott McIntosh, who relies on TikTok videos as the primary marketing tool for his [Cell Phone Seats](, a phone bracket that sits in car cup holders. While McIntosh is starting to look at alternative places to tout his wares, “I don't think it's going to go away, though,” he said. You could chalk it up to a case of TikTok-ban fatigue. It’s been a perennial conversation since then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 executive order [threatening to boot the app](, which was later blocked by a judge and pushed aside when Biden came into office. There were also a slew of bills proposed in Congress last year (and then forgotten) that would’ve flatly banned the app. This attempt is much more serious — the bill is law and the countdown has begun. Though there still seem to be a few outs. The legislation itself leaves room for TikTok to continue operating if ByteDance sells its stake (though the parent company sees that as a last resort). ByteDance and TikTok have also made clear [they plan on fighting in the courts](, aiming to overturn or perhaps delay the enforcement of the new rules until a friendlier administration takes power. Still, Bloomberg Intelligence puts legal success for TikTok at just 30%, according to litigation analyst Matthew Schettenhelm. If Trump, the Republican Party frontrunner, wins the presidential election in November, TikTok may find him to be a friendlier audience. These days, he’s changed his tune on the app, saying in recent weeks that TikTok should be able to stay in America. The conclusion of any of those routes is at least nine months out, which on the internet is a very, very long time. Too far for some TikTokers to be worried just yet. Between now and then, there’s time for thousands of trends, hundreds of viral songs and so many TikTok Shop purchases. Some are already taking advantage of the moment, like seller Kdm Vintage, who has sold more than 1,300 sweatshirts embroidered across the chest with a phrase that captures how many users feel: “My tummy hurts and I’m mad at the government.”—[Alex Barinka](mailto:abarinka2@bloomberg.net) Bloomberg Tech conference Hi, Tom Giles here, hijacking part of today's newsletter to hype our flagship Bloomberg Tech event, coming up May 9 in San Francisco. We've got a stellar lineup that includes Anthropic co-founders Dario and Daniela Amodei, Xbox President Sarah Bond, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Adam Neumann, the former CEO of WeWork, to tell us about his new real estate company, Flow. I'm especially excited to get the chance to interview Meta Chief Product Officer Chis Cox, Arm CEO Rene Haas and Reddit CEO Steve Huffman. [Learn More](. The big story A new feature being rolled out by Meta Platforms to blur naked photos sent to teens in private Instagram messages is coming under attack even before it’s up and running. The tool is aimed at detering online sextortion crimes, [which have led to more than two dozen teen suicides over the past two years.]( One to watch [Watch the Bloomberg Television interview with Amber Venz Box, president of LTK, on how the bill to ban TikTok in the US or force its sale will affect content creators.]( Get fully charged The move against TikTok may put US companies [in the firing line if China seeks to respond](. Apple’s lead marketer for the new [Vision Pro headset has retired](. ServiceNow’s results failed [to meet investors’ ‘high expectations.’]( The battle over startup Toptal shows [what the investor-founder relationship looks like at its worst.]( More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Tech Daily newsletter. 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