While President Donald Trump has signed an executive order providing TikTok an extra 75 days in the US, the company has not returned the app to the Apple and Google app stores. As a result, some are selling their phones that already have the app downloaded.
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, voluntarily shut down its service in the US on Jan. 19, hours before a deadline approached that required the company to sell the social media site to a US-based entity or see it banned.
The app was not only shut down, but the country’s top app stores, run by Google and Apple, also saw TikTok removed for download.
While service was restored once word of Trump’s executive order came through, the app has not yet returned to the app stores, meaning those who deleted or didn’t download the app have no way of getting it.
Realizing the value in having the app already downloaded onto a device, some have started selling their devices with TikTok preinstalled online.
Since the 12-hour shutdown, dozens of people have taken to online marketplaces to sell their devices, including one on eBay for a device listed as a brand-new Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max with TikTok downloaded on it for $50,000 or “Best Offer.”
eBay shows that at this time, 34 people are watching the item.
Similar listings show people trying to fetch thousands of dollars for their devices, all with the app installed.
The law that would ban the app, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, goes after app stores and web browsers that distribute the service. Individuals using the platform are not targeted under the law.
At this time, a US buyer still seems unlikely, as many tech billionaires and investors have shared interest in buying TikTok from ByteDance, though a deal and interest from the China-based company has not been shared.
Among the names being thrown out as potential buyers of the platform include YouTube and internet personality Mr. Beast, tech mogul Elon Musk, “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary, Oracle Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison, former US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, and others.