TikTok Shop's US sales spike on Black Friday despite looming ban

TikTok tripled its US shopping sales to more than US$100 million (S$134 million) on Black Friday, a sign of the app's growing popularity despite a looming ban.

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TikTok Shop, the app's e-commerce feature, also drew a 165 percent annual increase in shoppers for the two days between Black Friday on Nov 29 and Cyber Monday on Dec 2, the company said.

There were more than seven billion views of posts that included the hashtags #tiktokshopblackfriday or #tiktokshopcybermonday, TikTok said.

The boost in sales comes as the app faces a potential shutdown in January under a new law signed by President Joe Biden.

Lawmakers worry that TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, poses a national security threat to American users.

But the holiday sales spike also shows that intense regulatory scrutiny has done little to dampen user interest - TikTok is used by more than 170 million Americans - or push away sellers who continue to see value in marketing their products on the app.