There were jokes. There was despair. There were eulogies and fake funerals.

For about half a day in January, as a Supreme Court ruling banning TikTok took effect, some 170 million Americans were forced to grapple with the reality of a world without the app.

But then, after about 14 hours, it flickered back to life. Full pivots to Instagram Reels and YouTube were postponed, dubious alternatives like Red Note became fading memories. Things seemed back to normal. Sort of.

In the aftermath of the ban, Brielle Asero, a content creator in New York City, suspected that her algorithm had “reset.”

“It was like I had logged on to TikTok for the first time, and it was just showing random videos that like, were not curated to me at all,” she said.

Her algorithm eventually appeared to course-correct in the subsequent weeks, Ms. Asero, 22, added, but the change left her feeling uneasy.

Other users say they have felt similarly as the platform has been stuck in limbo for months, approaching an April 5 deadline to find a new American buyer or go dark in the United States once again. (Amazon has reportedly thrown its hat into the ring with an 11th-hour bid.)

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