Time has certainly been ticking on when TikTok would officially be banned. TikTok users around the United States believed that Jan. 18 would be the last day scrolling through the app. The app went dark hours before midnight and users believed TikTok would be an app from the past.
TikTok has been a controversial app in the United States for the past several years. The debatable ban was first introduced during 2020. President Donald Trump proposed an executive order in which ByteDance, the Chinese company TikTok is owned by, had 90 days to sell the app or it would be banned for U.S. users.
This ban fell through executively and the topic wasn’t brought up much with the general public, that is until 2024. The U.S federal court decided to uphold the ban once again and this time the ban was not going away. January 18, 2025 was the scheduled date for TikTok to no longer be available to U.S users.
“I got a pop up from TikTok saying it would be banned on the 18th. I went to open TikTok later, and it was banned for good that night,” Isabel Koestner, ‘27 said.
A lot of U.S and global TikTok users were wondering why exactly TikTok was even getting banned. The bill that was voted on and passed was known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Former president Joseph Biden signed this bill putting it into motion.
There are many reasons why the U.S wants to enforce a TikTok ban, but the major concern is national security. U.S lawmakers believed that ByteDance may leak the U.S data they’ve collected to the Chinese government. This would allow for Chinese government officials to have access to private U.S data and information
”Once it got banned, I I told my friend that maybe my screen time would go down since I spent most of my screen time on TikTok, but later I just ended up going on Instagram for entertainment,” Koestner said.
Several TikTok users did resort to Instagram reels or YouTube Shorts once the TikTok ban went into effect. These apps have similar TikTok style viewing like quick paced videos and easy scrolling.
“I actually never even had TikTok, but Instagram reels work for me. They are always really funny and honestly not even that behind on the TikTok trends,” Kajsa Skram, ‘27 said.
For many Instagram reels or YouTube shorts just didn’t satisfy the want for TikTok, but luckily the dreaded ban didn’t last for long. Roughly 12 short hours after the app went black, it turned back on displaying a message of gratitude.
TikTok welcomed its U.S users back with a short message reading, “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
Of course a large part of the U.S. isn’t upset that TikTok is back, but why was it back so quickly? On President Trump’s first day in office he signed an executive order delaying the TikTok ban for another 75 days. The ban has quieted down since it returned to app stores on Feb. 13 but it will surely become the topic of conversation when it is brought up again in April.
“Thankfully I didn’t delete TikTok but I was thinking about it,” Koestner said.
