TikTok Remains Strong in the US Despite the Ban, Surpassing YouTube and Meta

New data from Guggenheim Partners and Apptopia from early February 2025 reveals that TikTok is still flourishing in the United States, with US users spending an average of 107 minutes a day on the app in January. This is great news for the short-form video platform, especially amid the federal ban that was implemented in January (when the app went offline for about 13 hours) and the platform’s uncertain future in the USA.

What’s more, despite the challenges, TikTok continues to outpace other social media networks, namely YouTube and Meta. In comparison, YouTube scored 87 active minutes per day last month, while Meta’s user activity was even lower, with an average of 63 minutes a day.

Guggenheim analyst Michael Moriss highlighted that TikTok’s average is bolstered by so-called ‘superusers’ as an impressive 47% of daily users spend at least 61 minutes a day on the app.

Notably, TikTok must be particularly pleased about its performance compared to YouTube, which remains its biggest competitor in the USA. The online video-sharing platform is also the most popular app in the US among teens, with 73% of Americans between ages 13 and 17 visiting it daily. For reference, only 57% of those surveyed in the same age group said they use TikTok daily.

The new data shows that, for now, TikTok doesn’t have to worry about its users abandoning the app in large numbers. However, the future remains uncertain. In the meantime, other social media apps, including RedNote or Triller, are trying their best to lure TikTok users in an attempt to grab a slice of the local market. Time will tell which app will eventually benefit the most from TikTok’s precarious situation.

Last year, President Joe Biden signed a law requiring TikTok and its parent company ByteDance to divest its US business by January 19, 2025 or face a nationwide ban. This decision was made to prevent the Beijing-based company from allegedly spying for the Chinese communist government, as US lawmakers were concerned. Since the business was not sold, the TikTok app was shut down on January 19, only to come back online 13 hours later.

That is because the now-President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office, granting TikTok another 75 days before the ban would take effect and become unavailable on Apple and Google app stores. Reportedly, this time frame is intended to provide the platform with enough time to find a suitable US buyer. However, both the Chinese Communist Party and ByteDance continue to claim that TikTok’s divestiture is currently off the table.