Millions of people woke up on the morning of Sunday, January 19, to find that the TikTok ban had actually gone into effect. While we had all been aware of the pending ban, the reality sunk in. While its absence was short-lived, it was a shocking event for many — and the story still is not yet over.
As a regular TikTok user, I opened the app multiple times out of habit, just in the 12 hours without it. TikTok has become a vital part of many teens’ lives. More than 170 million Americans use TikTok for an average of 95 minutes per day. It is the first thing many people do in the morning, and we spend hours throughout the day scrolling endlessly.
President Biden had signed legislation back in April of 2024, requiring TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell to a U.S company within a year. Biden enacted this legislation to protect American national security interests. He believed China was accessing American data and manipulating what Americans see on TikTok. Biden and other government officials felt that China was purposely feeding Americans biased information to change their opinions on the U.S. government.
TikTok and ByteDance responded by filing a lawsuit against the U.S government, claiming that this requirement to sell was violating the First Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional. On January 17, the Supreme Court voted to uphold the initial ruling beginning January 19, unless it was sold in those 2 days.
Many users speculated that it would not happen, due to false rumors in the past of it being banned. Others believed the government wouldn’t have the power to ban an app, especially because something like that had never happened before.
On Saturday night, however, TikTok sent out a message to all U.S users saying, “Important update from TikTok; we regret that the US law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable. We are working to restore our service in the US as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.”
Content creators and other frequent users began to panic. People were posting videos with a dramatic, tearful goodbye. To many, TikTok was more than just an app. For the average user, it was a means for consuming, sharing and contributing to new culture and trends. It also created a community for people, even though they were ironically scrolling on their phones alone. To media influencers, TikTok was a source of income and for some even a full time job. It was also a key platform for small businesses to advertise their products and services. Many people were relying on it to launch their business, boost sales and promote their products. 69% of small businesses owners have reported that TikTok has increased their sales throughout this past year.
Twelve hours after it was shut down, Tik Tok suddenly came back to life. When you opened the app, a friendly message appeared. “Welcome back! Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of president Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the US! You can continue to create, share, and discover all the things you love on TikTok.”
People were surprised that the president chose to use his power to suspend the ban. He signed an executive order that will give Tik Tok 75 additional days to find a U.S owner.
Trump had, in fact, proposed a similar ban on TikTok in 2020, giving ByteDance a deadline to sell to a U.S owner. It is unclear why he chose to support TikTok now. On Monday, when he was asked by reporters why he unbanned TikTok, he responded, “Because I got to use it.” Critics say he is willing to put the nation’s security at risk just to gain supporters from the younger generations who are the prime users of TikTok. He has over 15 million followers on tiktok, since joining last year, and has used tiktok as a main resource for marketing during his campaign back in November. Trump has also made it clear that he is pro-business, and some believe there will be some benefits for him as a result of this unbanning.
Now people are questioning if TikTok will decide to sell in the 75 days they were given or if they will face the consequences of it being banned in the U.S and lose its 170 million U.S users.
Only time will tell.
