Last year, a law was passed by Congress that gave TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance until Jan. 19 to sell the app or be banned from the United States. The company fought it in court, saying that a sale wouldn’t be possible, but the Supreme Court unanimously refused to intervene. TikTok was one of the only new companies within the last decade to come close to overtaking the big social media companies in the U.S., such as Instagram and YouTube. However, this new ban could completely change the global social media landscape and will affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide daily.
The app shut down on the night of Jan. 18, about two hours before the ban was supposed to go into effect. The app had a pop-up when opened, explaining that TikTok had been banned due to a new U.S. law, but the message continued to say that President Donald Trump would be working to restore it once he took office. About 12 hours later, the app was back online for U.S. users, this time displaying a message that attributed its return to Trump’s efforts. With the swift return of the app, users were left with uncertainty about the future of TikTok.
“I think the TikTok ban is unfortunate, but if there’s a real threat of our information being stolen, then I’d rather see the app go,” junior Kyle Plank said. “That said, in the long run, I don’t think it will make much of a difference — plenty of other apps, like Instagram and Snapchat, do similar things. People will be sad to see it go, but that’s mainly because it’s become such a big part of their daily routine. Personally, I use it to scroll for hours—about six a day—whether I’m winding down at night, during class, or just hanging out at home.”
The law banning TikTok allows the president to pause the ban for 90 days until a sale of the app is made to a party in the U.S. or one of its allies. While a permanent ban in three months is possible, it’s unclear at this point what will happen. It may be difficult for a company that large to close a sale in such a short period of time; however, there are many interested parties, and offers have been made.
