TikTok-loaded smartphones in US lists for thousands of dollars on eBay, Facebook

People are listing smartphones preloaded with TikTok for tens of thousands of dollars on eBay, Facebook marketplace and other online storefronts – though it is not clear if there are many buyers at those prices.

TikTok was briefly unavailable to users in the United States over the past weekend, but as of Sunday anyone who had previously downloaded it has been able to use it.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing his Justice Department to pause enforcement of the TikTok divest-or-ban law until early April.

That followed the US Supreme Court’s ruling last week, which upheld the law requiring TikTok to be banned in the country’s app stores unless it secures a non-Chinese buyer by January 19.

The popular short video platform is currently not available for download on Apple and Google’s US app stores, so anyone who did not think to download TikTok before Sunday is out of luck.

As a result, some enterprising individuals are selling smartphones and tablets that have TikTok – and other apps from its parent company ByteDance, such as Lemon8 and video editor CapCut.

  

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