
TikTok was released back in Sept. of 2016, but was originally launched in China. The app became popular in 2018 after its merger with Musical.ly, but grew increasingly popular during the pandemic. With so many people stuck at home, the app became a creative outlet for users worldwide.
The app hosts several types of content, including dance challenges, travel tips, cooking tutorials and even politics and everyday news. A bill was proposed in 2020, by then President Donald Trump, banning the app as he viewed it as a “national security threat” according to AP News. To me and many other users, TikTok is not only a source of entertainment, but also a place where knowledge and resources can be obtained.
The platform isn’t highly restrictive on the content posted; thus, it has been a tool used to educate us on extremely controversial and sensitive topics occurring all over the world. This includes cases like the Kenneka Jenkins, the LGBTQIA+ community, mental health, climate change, and cancel culture. I don’t believe the bill was proposed due to security risks; rather it was meant to limit and censor what knowledge is being shared or obtained through the app. To me it seems like the ban’s purpose was to prevent people from spreading knowledge and raising awareness of what’s going on.
On January 18, the ban went into effect in the U.S., sending its users into a frenzy as they took to other social media platforms to express their disappointment and outrage. Coincidentally, on the day of President Trump’s inauguration, Trump announced a 75-day extension for the app, pending further investigation into a less problematic solution. The only reason he extended the ban was to make himself appear as the savior for the app, even though he was the one who proposed the ban to begin with.
Tiktok even released a statement thanking Trump for his support in helping to maintain its US users’ access to the app. I think the government fears a platform it cannot control as the app doesn’t enforce strict guidelines on the content that users post. Between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, Trump’s supporters own all of the major social media platforms, including X, Facebook, and Instagram. In fact, Zuckerberg reportedly donated
$1 million to Trump’s campaign and Musk contributed over $277 million on the campaign, according to BBC.
Though TikTok users currently have an extension on their time on the app, its future is still unknown. Users who deleted the app cannot redownload it until it is sold to a US company. App stores including Apple and Google, risk fines of billions of dollars if the app becomes available for download again, according to Forbes.
What is known for sure is that the app will either be banned and become inaccessible to users in the US or a US company will buy it and alter it in a way that changes our perception of it forever. Either way, once the 75 day extension is up, Tiktok will never be the same.