On January 19, 2025, the popular video-based social media app, TikTok was to be banned by the United States government. The app was banned at 10:30 p.m. EST but was back up and running the next day in the late morning. 

The app was originally going to be banned because of TikTok’s ties to China, causing concern for a national security risk. Many people argued that this was taking away freedom of speech and expression. For many, TikTok is not just social media, but how people express themselves, advertise their businesses, and learn new things. 

“I always have enjoyed TikTok, for a variety of reasons, but TikTok has introduced me to a lot of good music, and taught me which artists I like. For me, it is an outlet to discover new songs,” said Olivia Carida ’27

The original ban came from Congress. The order for the ban was passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The day after TikTok was initially banned, President Trump passed an executive order that overrode the initial law made by Congress. 

During the 14 hours the app was banned, many people thought it was gone for good. This caused people to delete the app in hopes of gaining more storage on their phones. Once the app had come back, the people who had deleted it, now did not have access to the app because it had been removed from the app store. 

Hannah Steele ’27 said, “In the beginning, I liked not having TikTok on my phone, but eventually I missed it and felt a bit left out when my friends would talk about something they had seen on the app.”

As of February 13th, TikTok is back on the app store, and the people who deleted it can now redownload the app and recover their accounts and videos from before. But, now that TikTok is back, what does the future of the app look like?

The order President Trump made on January 20, 2025, was temporary. This means that the app is only temporarily back until April 5, 2025. In April, the government will assess if American assets have enough legal protection to keep the app around. Other solutions for keeping TikTok around include the app being sold to an American CEO. This is all in hopes of creating a more secure nation and ensuring data privacy.