Due to a bipartisan law passed by Congress in April 2024, the 170 million users of the popular social media app TikTok in the United States lost access to the app on the evening of January 18, 2025.
CBS News says that the majority of lawmakers supported it due to concerns of Chinese influence on the app being a threat to national security, arguing that it could be used as a tool for spying and political manipulation. TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, had disregarded the law requiring it to sell its US operations to avoid a ban. The Supreme Court upheld the law, ruling that the ban did not violate the First Amendment on January 17, 2025.
The Guardian states prior to then, with warnings of TikTok becoming inaccessible in the US by January 19, over half a million Americans flocked to the digital Chinese platform Xiaohongshu, known as RedNote in English, in anticipation of the ban. A day before the official ban date, users attempting to open the app were met with a message reading, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
The Biden White House left enforcement of the law up to the Trump administration, who went into office on January 20. President Trump signed an executive order to extend TikTok’s availability for 75 days. Although he had previously backed a TikTok ban during his first term, he now considers the possibility of a 50-50 partnership between ByteDance and the US. He has also expressed that the purpose of the delay was to get more time to find a buyer for the app’s US assets. The president has said he would be open to billionaire Elon Musk or co-founder of Oracle Larry Ellison being potential buyers, according to BBC News.
According to the Austin American Statesman News, Singaporean CEO of TikTok Shou Zi Chew attended Trump’s inauguration on Monday, saying, “On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States.”. In less than 24 hours after TikTok’s shutdown, it resumed services for US users who already had the app. However, it is currently not available for download from Apple and Google’s App Store.
In West Morris Central, many students have been directly impacted by these events. Freshman Alec Krakowski expresses his disappointment after losing access to the app, saying “I am upset with the TikTok ban since due to misinformation, I now cannot redownload the app, since it has been removed from the app store. I thought it would be permanently gone so that was the reason I removed it from my phone but now it’s back and I wish I still had it.” On the other hand, Lorelei Costello says, “It’s fun to connect with friends and post funny stuff but certain sides of social media ruin people’s self-esteem and mental health.” Time will tell if people at WMC and all around the US will be able to use TikTok after the extension of its availability ends.
