On the late afternoon of January 18, TikTok users who lived in the United States were met with the following notification: “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”
An article made by NPR showed how the 170 million American users who owned the app, saw a potential ban for the application they’ve loved and known for the past 8 years. The news of TikTok getting banned in the United States was nothing new to many TikTok users, as it has been a topic that’s been dragged on since late 2020. On August 6, 2020, during President Donald Trump’s first term, he attempted to ban the app. The motives behind his actions were explained from his viewpoint of seeing the app as a national security threat. Although Trump’s attempt to ban Tiktok was over four years ago, on April 24, 2024, former-President Joe Biden officially signed a bipartisan TikTok bill. The name of it was the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” which allows the U.S government to ban foreign-owned apps that could potentially seem like a threat to national security.
As we all know, the ban on TikTok didn’t last long. According to CNN, “TikTok is back online after Trump pledged to restore it.” Tiktok returned on January 19, just about 12 hours after it was banned. The reason for its sudden and quick return was supposedly due to Donald Trump, as he was planning to issue an executive order after his inauguration in order to extend the period of time before the effects of the law’s prohibitions occur so that we can come to an agreement for the protection of our national security.
Although this is great news for many, the ban of TikTok is still a law that was passed by Congress and signed by a president before being rescued by an executive order. Many are relieved about TikTok returning for at least some period of time, while others have conflicted feelings.
