United News of Bangladesh

Phones preloaded with TikTok are being sold on platforms like eBay and Facebook Marketplace for thousands of dollars, with some listings reaching as high as $50,000. However, it's unclear if buyers are willing to pay such steep prices. The surge in listings follows a brief period during which TikTok was unavailable for new downloads in the U.S. As of Sunday, users who had already installed the app could continue using it, but the app remains inaccessible for new downloads from Apple and Google app stores. This has created a market for devices preloaded with TikTok and other ByteDance apps like Lemon8 and CapCut. While some listings are exorbitantly priced, phones selling for a few hundred dollars have garnered the most interest. For example, Nicholas Matthews, a New York resident, listed an iPhone 14 Plus with TikTok for $10,000. As of Friday, the highest bid he received was $4,550. Matthews expressed modest expectations, saying, “I’m just expecting to sell this one phone.” With approximately 170 million TikTok users in the U.S., the app remains popular despite ongoing regulatory challenges. The ban does not target individual users, meaning those with the app already downloaded can still use it freely. Trump pauses US TikTok ban with executive order eBay has yet to comment on the influx of TikTok-loaded phone listings. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has directed the Justice Department to delay enforcing the ban until early April. However, significant uncertainties remain, including the legality of Trump’s order and the potential sale of TikTok by its China-based parent company, ByteDance.