My Chinese Spy
Part of a series on United States TikTok Ban. [View Related Entries]
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About
My Chinese Spy, also known as Me Saying Goodbye to My Chinese Spy refers to a trend on TikTok in which users started to post satirical videos and memes saying goodbye to the Chinese spy that was monitoring their social media after hearing the news that the U.S. government might ban the video-sharing app TikTok on January 18th, 2025. Posts showing Americans joking about their affection and fondness for their Chinese spy began making the rounds online in mid-January 2025.
Origin
On January 11th, 2025, TikTok[1] user @claxmcb posted the earliest mention of the "My Chinese Spy" meme. In the video (seen below) he speaks directly to his Chinese Spy thanking him for introducing several celebrities, memes and events that occurred on the platform, such as Addison Rae and the "crossed-eye Filipino girl." The video amassed over 3 million plays and 748,000 likes in three days.
@claxmcb bye gng #fyp #sophie #tiktokban #banned #fypシ ♬ Jacob and the Stone (Slowed) – Emile Mosseri & sped up + slowed
Spread
The My Chinese Spy meme has since gained viral attention on social media as users began to create their own humorous farewells to their fictional spy companions if TikTok gets banned in the United States. For instance, on January 12th, 2025, TikTok user @saltyjimmy[2] posted a video pretending to be a Chinese spy watching over users' For You pages, which garnered over 4 million plays and 840,000 likes in just two days (seen below).
@saltyjimmy bye my friend #foryou #fyp #tiktokban #tiktokbanned ♬ See You Again (feat. Charlie Puth) – Wiz Khalifa
Additionally, on January 13th, 2025, Redditor u/SenorNerd718[3] shared an evocative image of a Chinese soldier crying while looking through a window, captioned "me and my Chinese spy on January 18th at 11:59 pm." This post resonated widely, receiving approximately 17,000 upvotes and 347 comments, further fueling the trend's popularity online (seen below).
Various Examples
@bostoncityfiber #fyp #january #january19 #yondu #chinese #spy #ccp #meme #final #starlord #marvel #bostoncityfiber #tiktokban #fypシ ♬ original sound – Evan
@lisandravcomedy An open letter to my special Chinese Spy 💙 #tiktokban #politicstiktok #comedy ♬ Carmen Habanera, classical opera(1283412) – perfectpanda
