Aussie TikTok users brace as clock ticks down to US ban

Australian TikTok users can expect changes when a US ban on the social media platform hit. (Morgan Hancock/AAP PHOTOS)

As Australian TikTok users brace for change, millions of Americans are saying goodbye to the popular social media app in an unexpected way: using Mandarin. 

In a series of unorthodox and amusing protests, TikTok users are learning Chinese phrases, paying tribute to the "spies" who allegedly served them videos for years and, in what has become a groundswell, joining other Chinese social networks.