The ban on TikTok in the USA, although it did not last as long as expected, caused panic among a large number of long-time users of the social network, so it is not surprising that some decided to make some money from this situation.
On the day of the social network’s blocking, strange listings began to appear on eBay and other American marketplaces, where they asked up to $1 million for not too new iPhones. It turned out that on older versions of iOS, regional restrictions did not apply and TikTok was fully functional there.
After Trump’s statement about canceling the blocking, the number of listings decreased — and the prices significantly dropped. Currently available: iPhone 13 Pro Max with installed TikTok for a modest $8 thousand.
The bill for a complete ban on TikTok was passed by the US House of Representatives in March 2024, in April the Senate supported the bill and then-President Joe Biden signed it. According to it, the TikTok ban was to take effect on January 19, which actually happened this Sunday — at the same time, in the evening, the newly elected President Donald Trump announced that he plans to postpone the ban and suggested that the US should own 50% of the service (he wants to apply a similar scheme to other companies in similar situations).
Meanwhile, TikTok has partially returned to operation, taking the opportunity to thank Trump for his support. At the same time, the social network is still unavailable in the App Store, where they probably wait for an official decision.
It is worth mentioning that the initial reason for blocking the social network was the potential threat to national security. The Biden administration believed that the Chinese government could force TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to hand over data about American users.