Yesterday, TikTok resumed operations in the United States following a voluntary 12-hour shutdown, which began just hours before the scheduled U.S. ban on the app took effect. The company said that President-elect Donald Trump pledged to pause the ban with an executive order on his first day in office.
“We thank President(-elect) Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive,” TikTok said in a statement. “It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
In April, Congress passed legislation banning the video-sharing platform due to national security concerns. To avoid the ban, TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance needed to sell TikTok to a government-approved buyer by Jan. 19, which it did not achieve in time.
“I was very sad when I saw that I was no longer able to use TikTok, then shortly after, super happy that I could use it again,” said Sacred Hearts Academy junior Keira Wheeler, who has been using the app for about a decade. “I thought it was weird they placed a ban and made a big deal about it, then changed it suddenly.”
When TikTok users went on the app Saturday night, there was a notification reading, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.” It went on to say, “We are fortunate that President (Donald) Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
At that time, the app stopped appearing on app stores, preventing people from downloading the app. Companies would be penalized for distributing or updating TikTok, according to NPR. The app was not removed for users who had downloaded it; however, they will not be able to access or update it. This would cause the app to become unusable and eventually shut down.
In the weeks leading up to the ban, the Supreme Court heard arguments from both sides. According to the Times, lawyers for TikTok argued that the mandate violates their users’ First Amendment right to free speech, while the U.S. government argued that TikTok represented a “grave threat to national security” and was a tool of espionage for Beijing. But according to NPR, the Supreme Court upheld the ban and ruled unanimously that “divestiture was necessary” to resolve lawmakers’ fears about China, and that Congress acted lawfully when voting to crack down on the app.
If ByteDance had sold TikTok to a U.S. company, the app would be able to operate as normal. The goal of the act is to remove China’s ability to access U.S. data and exercise control over the social media platform.
TikTok first debuted as Musical.ly in 2014, and, according to Pew Research Center, the majority of the app’s users are teenagers.
“I use TikTok for recipes, current news updates, book and movie recommendations and exploring new music,” Academy senior Anna Casupang said. “I find the app useful because…the information I am trying to find is accessible. I also use TikTok as a way to destress, especially when school gets stressful.”
For some, this TikTok ban doesn’t just mean the loss of content but also the loss of connection and community. According to AP News, in June, a dozen racial and social groups, including the Asian American Foundation, the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Calos Coalition and the Muslim Public Affairs Council submitted a legal brief in support of the platform. They wrote that TikTok was instrumental to advocacy around several issues, such as reproductive rights and opposition to anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) legislation around the country.
Many TikTok users have shifted to alternative apps, such as Lemon8 and RedNote. Users, including content creators and influencers, have also turned to other existing platforms, such as Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. According to AP News, Cafe Emporos founder Ruben Trujillo said that using TikTok and going viral helped to market his Coffeegrams, greeting cards that come with coffee, tea or hot chocolate, and is growing frustrated with the politics surrounding the ban.
“It’s kind of like they keep putting the ball in each other’s court, but who’s going to make the decision?” he said in the article. He went on to say small business owners are told to “be creative, pull yourself up by the bootstraps…and a lot of people did that, and it’s like those bootstraps are being cut now.”
TikTok users have been vocal about this change, and several teenagers throughout schools have expressed their views on the potential ban. Most of them share negative sentiments towards the possible loss of TikTok, as many students have had the app for numerous years.
Casupang, who has had TikTok since the sixth grade, has accumulated numerous videos over the years that she’s created and saved. “The videos I have from then to now are so much that I wouldn’t be able to save them,” she said. “For me, losing the platform also means losing some of those memories.”
Amid fears of the TikTok ban, there are several alternative platforms that TikTok users may turn to. One of these options people are considering is Lemon8, a social media app owned by ByteDance that is largely focused on lifestyle content. Another option that’s recently seen a surge of interest is RedNote, a Chinese social media app that has been considered by some as a knockoff of TikTok.
However, the New York Times states that Lemon8’s and RedNote’s origins may cause them to be subject to the same law as TikTok. In this scenario, TikTok users would be limited to other social media platforms, including Instagram and YouTube, which added similar features as TikTok to compete with them, such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. In the absence of TikTok, these apps’ features and availability would benefit from the ban as users would flock to them, causing these and other platforms’ popularity to skyrocket.
