Some of TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users are now selling phones featuring the social media app preinstalled for thousands of dollars on various platforms.
Parent company ByteDance voluntarily halted the TikTok app in the U.S. on Sunday, just hours ahead of a deadline to either divest the app or face a ban due to national security concerns related to its ties with China. The app was briefly unavailable to users in the U.S. until President Donald Trump announced a pause on the impending ban the following Monday.
Initially, users who had the app already installed on their devices were also unable to access the service, though it has since been restored. However, TikTok remains unavailable for download in U.S. app stores, leaving new users without access unless they had previously installed the app.
This situation has turned phones with TikTok preloaded into hot sellers. Numerous listings for phones and tablets with the app installed have emerged on platforms like eBay.
One of the notable listings features a brand-new Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max with TikTok priced at $50,000 or “Best Offer,” with approximately 80 watchers on the listing according to eBay.
Numerous similar listings can be found, with some devices priced at just a few hundred dollars. These listings range from devices boasting active TikTok accounts to others that have the app installed but not connected to an account. As of now, eBay has yet to respond to CBS MoneyWatch regarding these listings.
TikTok’s users in the U.S. aren’t the ones being targeted by the ban, which President Trump has postponed until early April. However, the proposed law known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would render it illegal for app stores, such as those of Google or Apple, and web-hosting services to distribute or support TikTok.
