Navigate the U.S. TikTok ban with smart social listening! Explore global trends, insights, and alternatives with Exolyt to stay ahead in a shifting digital landscape.

At Exolyt, we’re always exploring the latest trends and shifts in the TikTok world, especially how social listeners and marketers navigate the platform. So, we couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room—the ongoing debate around the TikTok ban in the U.S. 

Unless one has been living under a rock, the chances are unlikely that they still haven’t heard of it yet! It's been quite a rollercoaster, hasn’t it? 

While the justices appear to be grappling with the balance between national security concerns and Americans' First Amendment constitutional rights to speak and receive information online, there are still many lingering questions about how the ban would work in practice because there’s no precedent for the U.S. government blocking a major social media platform. And much of how the government plans to enforce it remains unclear.

But ban or no ban, the show must go on! So, here we are to share some ideas for social listeners who are feeling challenged and at a crossroads with the current situation. 

Possible implications of the ban on social listeners:

We can only imagine how it might impact small creators who have grown their community solely on the platform and now make a living out of it. (By TikTok’s own estimate, the 7 million U.S. small businesses that use the app stand to lose $1 billion in revenue, and around 2 million creators would suffer $300 million in lost earnings in just one month if the app is banned.)

Read this editorial by CNN on the impact of the ban on creators who built careers on TikTok.

While social media managers are focused on diversifying their strategies and partnering with multi-platform creators, many social media insights managers or social listening experts are probably at a loss estimating its impact and influence in their daily research work.

This is because TikTok has approximately 148 million users aged 18 and above in the US, and its user base significantly grew by around 35 million in 2023, showcasing its expanding influence. Its ad reach covers 44% of the internet population, so one can imagine the wealth of audience insights this platform could capture and harness. 

Here are a few comments shared by some professionals in the field on Linkedin and other platforms:

From our experience of working with social insights experts and brand strategists, here are a few implications the ban might have on them:

Implications of #tiktokban on US-based social listeners:

1. Closed window into new and unique communities: 

There is a #tok for everything on TikTok, and what makes it different from other social platforms is its power to connect that (toks) content with communities that encourage participation and co-creation. Sprinkled with algorithmic magic, this reaches the right groups, evolving into a shared dialogue. 

It’s hard to say if any other platform will be able to replicate this pattern, but until now, TikTok communities served as a gold mine of audience insights for brands to watch out for because so much can be learnt from these communities and conversations—with regards to trends, habits or dynamic perspectives like self-expression trends or evolving identities that are important to know for connecting with audiences more authentically. 

As per TikTok’s 2025 Trend Forecast Report, these trends or what they categorize as ‘Identity Osmosis’, will continue to rise on the platform, so brands must learn to listen and adapt to it. 

It is important to understand that communities are not just catalysts for trends but a hub for the confluence of subcultures, micro-trends, and shifting behaviours. Following the patterns of community movements on TikTok can help determine what’s coming next or has the potential to grow into something big and impactful.

It’s another story that TikTok communities will discontinue to emerge in the US, but the potential of harnessing its power cannot be discredited. If you are still curious about identifying these cultural trends from social media, read our blog: How to use social listening to understand cultural trends.

2. Missed gateway into global and local trends: 

There is no doubt that TikTok is a trend-setting powerhouse. Its algorithm-driven feed, which prioritises entertainment factors, has changed how people consume content, making it one of the most engaging platforms built on virality that resonates beyond the app and can permeate everywhere. Understanding TikTok's distinctive ecosystem provides invaluable insights into trend evolution and empowers brands to engage effectively across diverse platforms.

Without access to TikTok and its emerging trends, insights will be lost, making it harder to understand trends gaining traction in non-Western or rapidly growing markets.

While the strategies for identifying and leveraging trends can be applied to other platforms like Instagram and YouTube, the results might differ significantly as they don’t follow TikTok’s unique ecosystem of organic virality and hyper-personalized content delivery. This results in gaps in the insights with a narrowed perspective into how trends developed regarding demographic coverage or niche community dynamics. 

3. Reduced trend forecasting & cross-platform synergy:

TikTok’s fast-paced environment fosters a constant influx of new, creative content. Its unique algorithm surfaces viral videos quickly, offering a lens into early-stage trends. Trends originating on TikTok frequently cascade to other social media platforms, influencing content on Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and X (Twitter).

The lack of access to such real-time insights as they happen disrupts the ability to spot emerging micro-trends and viral content in their nascent stages, which often set the tone for broader cultural movements. Additionally, it will become challenging to trace how trends originate and evolve across platforms, hindering cross-platform campaign planning.

A ban on TikTok will limit access to historical data and new, emerging data points, impacting the ability of social media insight managers and brand strategists to forecast trends and their lifespans effectively. 

In a nutshell, there will be narrowed data for Social Listening

TikTok’s platform-specific language, memes, and hashtags are key data points for social intelligence. A ban reduces the scope of real-time, qualitative insights to refine strategies.

Other more obvious implications for social listeners are:

4. Limited Access to Gen Z and Millennial Audience Research: 

TikTok is a primary platform for engaging younger demographics. It can become a cultural hub for language evolution, humor, memes, and generational expressions. Losing this platform makes it harder for experts to study the zeitgeist of younger generations, impacting campaigns aimed at authenticity and relatability, for new-age active audiences.

Competitors often leverage TikTok for unique campaigns, audience growth, and creative experimentation. Without TikTok, brands miss valuable data on capturing competitor short-video strategies and audience reception.

TikTok’s algorithm promotes virality and engagement like no other (e.g., video completions, replays, likes, and shares). Losing this data reduces the ability to understand what resonates most with audiences, making it harder to craft highly engaging campaigns.

If you are a social listening expert who uses TikTok to capture data and insights on the above topics, you might want to continue reading this blog.

Here, we will elaborate on how you can shift your social listening goals towards a more global audience and continue harnessing the potential of TikTok insights if a ban takes effect.

There is no doubt that the wealth of insights from TikTok in the U.S. is incomparable to other platforms, as Americans spend nearly 1/3rd of their social media time (32%) on TikTok. (2023)

However, TikTok usage is significantly growing, as reflected in the data on time spent in the TikTok app worldwide.

So, going global with TikTok research is essential because TikTok operates as a borderless cultural hub. While the U.S. holds a substantial share of TikTok users, the platform's influence is expanding rapidly in other markets, making global research critical.

Especially, TikTok trends transcend geographic boundaries, often originating in one region and quickly gaining traction worldwide. By monitoring global activity, brands can identify where trends start, how they evolve, and how they impact different markets.

Example: Dance challenges or viral audio clips often spread internationally within days, influencing multiple demographics and cultures.

TikTok is experiencing exponential growth in emerging markets like Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. These markets have a high proportion of Gen Z and millennial users, the primary demographic driving TikTok's popularity. These users are tech-savvy, trend-conscious, and deeply engaged with digital content.

As disposable incomes rise in these regions, brands have a unique opportunity to establish loyalty early with consumers exploring new products and services.

Failing to monitor TikTok activity in emerging markets could mean missing key insights into how younger populations interact with content, engage with trends, and form brand preferences. By understanding and participating in these markets, brands can position themselves as early adopters and leaders, gaining a competitive advantage in regions with high growth potential.

With Exolyt, brands can identify these trends popping up in different geographies and dig deeper into nuanced cultural perspectives with hashtag-related networks.

3. Explore cultural nuances for localized campaigns

Speaking of cultural perspectives and local community-specific discussions, it's important to remember that content that resonates in the U.S. may not align with audience preferences in Asia, Europe, or Latin America.

Content Preferences Vary: While humour, music, and challenges are universally popular on TikTok, the specific tone, format, and themes vary significantly by region. For example, slapstick humour may thrive in one market, while emotional storytelling is more appealing in another.

Language and Dialects Matter: Trends often emerge from regionally specific phrases, slang, or cultural references. Missing these subtleties can lead to campaigns that feel out of touch or fail to resonate with local audiences.

Local Influencers Drive Engagement: Regional influencers are often more relatable to their audience than global stars. Collaborating with them allows brands to create localized campaigns that feel genuine while tapping into the broader reach of global trends.

So, global TikTok research helps brands understand these cultural nuances, allowing them to create localized campaigns that feel authentic while leveraging universal trends.

A global snack brand may find that in the U.S., TikTok trends focus on recipe hacks, while in Southeast Asia, users showcase street food culture using the brand’s products.

In Latin America, TikTok beauty trends may highlight bold colours and statement looks, while in Japan, users might focus on minimalist, natural styles inspired by local aesthetics.

If you are wondering how to overcome the challenges with multilingual social listening, don’t fret!

When analyzing social data, we understand that one of the biggest challenges is tackling the complexities of multilingual social listening. There are already so many cultural nuances to consider. One must overcome the bias of English-centric data to unlock the richness of other languages and generate more inclusive and accurate global insights.

Recognizing the importance of audio, Exolyt has introduced video transcriptions to support better content analysis. So you can:

 View transcription of any video, making it easier to capture text for translations and analyze and understand content without needing to watch it.

Generate a concise AI summary of the video’s audio content in the language of your choice to quickly grasp its context and decide the need to delve deeper.

4. Continue monitoring competitors operating globally

Many global brands use TikTok to launch creative campaigns targeting specific markets or as a testing ground for new ideas and trends. Monitoring these brands' or competitors’ TikTok performance globally provides invaluable insights into what works across various regions, as well as gaining inspiration, benchmarking performance, or developing competitive strategies.

Exolyt can help you continue monitoring your competitors with TikTok-specific insights on:

Performance—Comparing global competitors’ metrics helps brands set realistic performance goals and understand what is achievable within their niche.

Key partnerships—Monitoring competitors’ partnerships across various geographies helps identify which creators or collaborations drive engagement and brand awareness to refine their global partnerships based on these insights.

Follower demographics—Discovering a competitor’s follower demographics, such as age, location, and gender, can help you understand the audience you should target.

UGC social listening—Exolyt can help brands gauge competitors' audience preferences, sentiments, or unfiltered opinions across different geographies, offering clues on positioning products more effectively.

Real-time insights—Brands can monitor competitors’ campaigns through Exolyt in real-time, allowing them to adjust their own strategies or capitalize on emerging trends in other markets before they peak.

Check the various metrics you can find on Exolyt and learn how to capture them. 

5. Measure your brand engagement across geographies

The application's ban will influence TikTok as a whole. How will engagement rates change across industries and geographies after U.S. users are removed? Exolyt can help users determine and measure the impact a U.S. ban can have.

‘If a TikTok ban in the U.S. is enforced, brands targeting U.S. consumers will likely see a drop in engagement rates and shift their attention and budgets to other platforms and paid advertising. This creates opportunities for marketing agencies to step in and help brands find new outreach channels.

Exolyt’s platform can help users identify brands that previously collaborated with U.S.-based TikTok creators and are now looking for alternative marketing channels. Similarly, Exolyt can also help brands find alternative non-US influencers who can carry the brand's message to target demographics globally.

Countries with a high proportion of U.S. viewers will see reduced engagement, while regions like Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia may experience new growth due to a shortage of U.S.-based content on the platform. This creates new growth opportunities for all accounts in the other regions. In both these cases, Exolyt's historical data can help to track and measure the magnitude of changes.’

— Tigran Khachatryan, Senior Data Scientist, Exolyt

A TikTok ban would disrupt access to real-time insights, but capturing historical data now ensures that brands, strategists, and marketers retain critical knowledge for future campaigns, competitive analysis, and audience engagement strategies. Leveraging past data, brands can make smarter, more informed decisions even in a post-TikTok landscape. Without these reference points, brands may struggle to understand how digital culture shifts and adapts accordingly.

Predicting future content trends by recognizing patterns and shifts in past viral challenges, hashtags, and engagement spikes.

Metrics such as engagement rates, audience demographics, video engagement rates, and influencer campaign performances can be benchmarks when adjusting Instagram or YouTube content strategies.

Historical exports of audience demographics, engagement trends, and campaign data will help maintain continuity in social media strategy.

7. Identify global influencers or brand advocates

Even if a TikTok ban is implemented in some regions, its global influence will persist through influencers, UGC, and trend migration. Brands and social intelligence experts must continue tracking global influencer insights and user-generated content trends to stay ahead of cultural shifts, consumer preferences, and digital engagement strategies.

Additionally, TikTok creators and influencers often have global followings, meaning their content impacts audiences across borders. Understanding the global reach of influencers and user-generated content (UGC) is critical for building partnerships and campaigns with broad appeal. 

Unlike Instagram or YouTube, where established influencers dominate, TikTok’s algorithm frequently pushes new creators into the spotlight, creating fresh influencer opportunities. Only by monitoring these global TikTok influencers can brands discover rising content creators early before they gain mainstream popularity.

Here's how you can find the right global influencers for your brand using Exolyt.

8. Check on the pulse of cultural trends in real-time

In today's hyper-connected world, trends are no longer confined to one geography—they spread across borders, influence cultures globally, and evolve in real-time. While some content patterns remain unique to their origin (e.g., region-specific humour or traditions), many transcend locations and gain worldwide traction. This makes it essential for social listeners and brands to keep an eye on TikTok trends globally, even if their primary focus is on the local market, as there is always potential to learn something from different geographies and apply it to your local geography

By analyzing what’s happening in different geographies, brands can:

Spot trends before they go mainstream in their own region.

Identify cultural adaptations that could work for local audiences.

Discover viral engagement strategies used by brands and creators worldwide.

For example, a fashion trend originating in South Korea may take months before it becomes mainstream in the U.S., but social listeners who monitor Korean TikTok trends can spot it early and adapt it for their audience. Similarly, a viral TikTok challenge in Latin America could provide inspiration for U.S.-based campaigns before the trend reaches peak saturation.

How Exolyt helps track geographical trends on TikTok

Exolyt enables brands, social listeners, and marketers to track TikTok insights globally, ensuring they don't miss out on key trends, even if the platform is banned or restricted in certain regions. Here's how:

Exolyt provides location-based analytics to monitor the most engaging videos in different countries.

Brands can filter trends by geography to see what’s gaining traction globally and anticipate cross-regional adoption.

TikTok trends often start with localized hashtags before expanding globally; Exolyt allows users to track trending hashtags in specific markets, helping social listeners understand which topics are gaining momentum and whether they have the potential to be adapted elsewhere.

Trends that gain traction in one country on TikTok often migrate to Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Twitter in other regions. By tracking emerging TikTok trends globally, brands can prepare to replicate or adapt the trend for other platforms where TikTok is restricted.

This ensures that social listeners can still capitalize on viral trends even in a post-TikTok landscape in U.S.

Alternative Options for U.S.-based Social Listeners 

Whether or not a TikTok ban happens in the U.S., one thing is clear: TikTok’s influence is global, and its trends, influencers, and user-generated content will continue shaping digital culture worldwide. For social listeners, brand strategists, and marketers, losing direct access to TikTok data would be a major setback—but not an end to valuable insights.

With tools like Exolyt, you can still track global trends, analyze competitor strategies, monitor influencers, and study viral content patterns and conversations beyond U.S. borders. By leveraging historical and real-time data from international TikTok activity, you can stay informed, adapt strategies, and maintain a competitive edge—even if TikTok becomes restricted locally.

A TikTok ban doesn’t mean the conversation stops. Stay ahead, stay global, and keep exploring with Exolyt.

Get started with a free 7-day trial, or connect with our team to learn more about the platform's features and potential use cases.

Continue your TikTok social listening with Exolyt

Cheatcode for U.S.-based TikTok social listeners: Implications and Alternatives—Ban or No-Ban

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