After 14 hours of being offline, 170 million Americans could finally access TikTok again. Users who opened the app were greeted with a message stating: “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
This progress followed notable uncertainty after the Supreme Court upheld the TikTok ban, which declared the ban constitutional just last week. Last year, Congress passed a bill requiring ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, to sell its U.S. servers and operations to a non-Chinese buyer by January 19. If ByteDance failed to comply, TikTok would face a complete ban in the United States.
TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, has over 150 million active users in the U.S., with a large portion being high school students. The passed ban comes as federal officials argue that the app could allow the Chinese government to access sensitive data or spread propaganda. The United States isn’t alone in this. In many other countries, TikTok has already been banned to some extent. For instance, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Syria, and many other countries also have the app banned for all users. On the other hand, Canada and the United Kingdom have it banned on government devices.
Initially, both former President Biden and President Trump had opposing views on TikTok. However, after the backlash received from the many active American users of the ByteDance apps, it seems that they both are now going back on their words. While the executive order by Trump gave time for TikTok’s massive user base, the uncertainty around the app’s future is still a concern for millions of Americans, especially its creators and influencers who rely on the platform for their income. As well, it has served as a tool for connecting the citizens of the United States, where people express their opinions and interests, finding communities and friends through the app all across the country and the world.
The future of the app is still uncertain. As citizens, there is no way to know the scope of what is happening backstage of these deals, or how this will ultimately affect the communities that have been created through this app. Yet, for now, the app is here to stay until early April 2025.
