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Everything you need to know about TikTok ban and the Meta Tracking apocalypse

Author

Jessie Healy
January 20, 2025

Hey Founder,

Wow, this has been the most nail-biting and crazy week in DTC since iOS14 punched us in the face in 2021! Every day I wake up to new information!

Confused Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live

So I am sending you this update with a simple summary of what we currently know and think is going to happen with these two HUGE, but separate events that are disrupting our space.

1. TikTok Ban - Latest News

Late Saturday night the TikTok app became inaccessible to Americans. Users attempting to open TikTok encountered a message explaining that the platform was offline and urging them to “stay tuned.”

The message further stated: “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.” In addition, TikTok, Lemon8, and CapCut—apps owned by its China-based parent company ByteDance—were removed from the Apple and Google Play stores.

This was contrary to what we expected - it was thought that users would still be able to use the app, just not download updates and bug fixes. 🤯

But then… another surprise.

Early Sunday, President-elect Trump announced plans to issue an executive order delaying the enforcement of the divest-or-ban law following his inauguration on Monday. Within hours, access to TikTok’s app and website was restored for U.S. users.

The platform attributes its reappearance to an intervention by Trump.

Here is the full message from Trump that he posted on Truth Social that spurred TikTok to allow users back on:

What is next?

For now, this seems to be a stay of execution for TikTok - for at least the next few weeks or months.
But - the law has been passed so Trump is going to have a big legal and political battle if he is going to reverse this.

For now - have your plan B ready if you rely on TikTok and expect some disruption to Meta performance as big changes in user activity on the platform have their impact on ad placements, brand ad spend and more.

Stay tuned for updates!

2. Latest News on Meta Tracking Changes for Health and Wellness Brands

By now you should know if your brand is going to be impacted - you can check in Meta Events Manager if you have been categorised.

What’s Happened so far?

Over the last few days there have been reports of brands having purchase conversion events disabled in their ad account as Meta rolls this out.

Here is what we know now - as the situation continues to unfold:

Immediate Action Required:
If you haven’t requested a 30-day extension yet, act now to buy yourself more time.

  1. Custom Events as a Potential Workaround:
    Meta reps suggest custom events might help mitigate disruptions if your account is affected. However, tread carefully—this isn’t a guaranteed fix.

    This fix involves using a bespoke tracking event on your purchase confirmation page, and optimising your campaigns for this, instead of ‘purchase’. It’s not quite as good as a purchase event, as Meta isn’t as familiar with how it fits into a standard ecommerce funnel but it is an extremely good workaround if they do allow it. Here is a great guide:

  2. Algorithm Uncertainty:
    The big unknown: How will relying on custom events affect algorithm performance? With no standardization across accounts, we’re entering uncharted waters.

  3. Compliance Ambiguity:
    What does being "compliant" mean when it comes to custom events?

    The guidelines are murky, and advertisers are now solely responsible for staying within the rules

  4. Challenges with Upper Funnel Strategies:
    Many hoped upper funnel optimizations would ease the transition, but so far, they haven’t delivered the expected results, which is not super surprising, if they worked before we would have been using them!

  5. Prediction Alert:
    Meta could very well reverse this in 6–18 months, they did a similar thing with events and tracking removed during iOS14

Final Thought:

Stay Calm, But Stay Prepared
Now’s the time to start brainstorming custom event strategies. Don’t wait until you’re impacted.

Remember when iOS 14 changes felt like the end of the world? We figured it out . This industry rewards agility, not hesitation.

What’s your game plan for handling these changes? Hit reply and let me know!

Further reading on this topic and a great way to stay updated:

Further reading:

X Jessie