TikTok continues to ramp up its in-stream shopping push, with the platform now offering TikTok Shop credits to users for inviting friends to join the app, and for using the app themselves.
And that might also be a way for TikTok to boost its U.S. user count, as part of its expanded bid to put more pressure on the U.S. Government to halt its forced sell-off bill. Which seems unlikely to sway government officials, but it could be another angle for TikTok to take, as the deadline for its removal looms.
Its new rewards program, which is being promoted to U.S. users as a “Limited Time Offer”, could effectively see users earn hundreds of dollars per day, for bringing more users to the app, and shopping in-stream.
As reported by Bloomberg:
“TikTok users recently began seeing a new “limited time offer,” which compensates them in the form of TikTok Shop credits. The promotions are appearing on TikTokers’ “For You” page, the main feed they see when they open the app.”
The program is similar to the rewards program that TikTok offered in Europe earlier in the year, which saw users paid for their activity in-stream.
TikTok was forced to pull that campaign in August, after the EU Commission began looking into it as a potential violation of the Digital Services Act (DSA). But it’s now offering a revised version of the same in the U.S., which serves the dual purpose of both boosting its user count, and getting more U.S. users buying products in the app.
And it does seem that TikTok believes the user count argument is important.
In its recent statement in regards to the Appeals Court rejecting its bid to overturn the forced sell-off bill, TikTok noted that:
“The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.”
Given the drama of the statement, it’s clear that TikTok is keen to highlight its 170 million users as a key impacted party in this instance.
And to clarify, it’s not a ban. The bill is a forced sell-off, so TikTok can still operate under alternative ownership which is not connected to the CCP. But TikTok has long argued that this is tantamount to a ban either way, as it won’t have adequate time to arrange a transfer via sale, while the Chinese Government has vowed to pull the app from the U.S., rather than cede to the White House’s ruling in this case.
It seems that TikTok believes that if it can boost its user numbers ahead of that January deadline, maybe that will strengthen its case. Or it’s just trying to squeeze as much revenue out of the U.S. as it can, before it’s forced out of the region.
Which is where the shopping push comes in. TikTok has been working to make in-stream shopping a more significant element, even though U.S. users haven’t shown a heap of interest.
But by rewarding users with TikTok Shop credits, that could awaken them to its potential, and the value of shopping in the app, which, if TikTok is somehow allowed to remain in the U.S., could also be of benefit in the longer term.
Either way, it seems like a fairly desperate bid from the app, on both fronts. Which could end up paying off, but it might also be an empty action, if it does end up being banned in 38 days.
Yes, 38 days. That may be all the time TikTok has left in the U.S., before its hundreds of millions of users, including many successful creators, have to find an alternative means to connect.
That’ll be an unpopular decision, and it seems like many TikTok users have convinced themselves that this won’t actually happen. But unless something drastic changes, it is looking more like the reality for the app.
Unless President-Elect Trump saves it, as he said that he would. Or TikTok wins an unprecedented court victory.
There is a chance, but the odds are rising against the platform every day.
