US TikTok ban triggers unprecedented DNS traffic shifts
Cloudflare’s aggregated data from its 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver shows the US ban on TikTok, which took effect January 19, 2025, had an immediate and measurable impact on internet traffic. The shutdown, mandated by the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," began affecting DNS traffic to TikTok and other ByteDance-owned platforms like CapCut shortly after 03:30 UTC (10:30 PM ET on January 18).
Compared to the previous week, DNS traffic to these domains dropped by as much as 85%, with signs of further decline in subsequent hours. The drop was even more pronounced at the network level: traffic from ByteDance’s autonomous system (AS396986) in the US to Cloudflare fell by up to 95% after the same timestamp.
US users who attempted to access the platform around that time were met with a message indicating the ban had taken effect.
RedNote (Xiaohongshu) traffic climbs sharply
As TikTok traffic collapsed, DNS traffic in the US for alternatives—driven primarily by RedNote (Xiaohongshu)—began a steady climb starting January 13. That growth surged on January 19, reaching as much as 74% higher around 04:00 UTC (11:00 PM ET on January 18) compared to the previous week. Growth was less pronounced during US nighttime hours, around 22%.
Daily US DNS traffic for these alternatives had already been rising since January 13, peaking at 116% growth on January 15. By Sunday, January 19, daily traffic was on track to surpass that previous high.
Global spillover effects
The migration to RedNote was not confined to the US. Cloudflare observed clear increases in daily DNS traffic to TikTok alternatives in several other countries on January 18:
- Mexico: 500% increase
- Canada: 68% increase
- UK: 53% increase
- Germany: 110% increase
- France: 75% increase
These trends align with third-party app store rankings from Data.ai, which showed RedNote rising to the top of Android and iOS charts. President-elect Donald Trump indicated on January 18 that he planned to grant TikTok a 90-day extension following his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Service restoration begins
Around 17:30 UTC (12:30 ET) on Sunday, January 19—roughly 14 hours after the shutdown began—TikTok announced it was starting service restoration following assurances from Trump. DNS traffic began to recover slightly after 18:00 UTC but stayed near shutdown levels for several hours, with ByteDance’s AS396986 showing a similar pattern.
As of Monday, January 20, 2025, TikTok-related domains in the US remain below pre-shutdown levels. Despite overnight fluctuations, DNS traffic has been recovering; at 17:00 UTC (11:00 AM ET) it was only 14% lower than the same time the previous week.
