TikTok is by far one of the most popular platforms of social media for younger generations. Many of us just spend hours doom-scrolling when we have nothing else to do for the day. But recently, there has been a lot of controversy with TikTok and politics, so here is the breakdown.
What once was named Musical.ly was bought out by the company ByteDance in 2018. However, due to ByteDance being a Chinese-owned company, there is a lot of speculation that the app is being used to spy on Americans. In 2020, under President Donald Trump's rules, there was an executive order for a possible TikTok ban claiming that the app was a national security threat.
This idea resurfaced until Trump was reelected as president in 2024 when Congress passed a banning bill if ByteDance did not sell the app to an approved company. On January 18th when the clock struck 10:30 pm, users tried to open the app and were met with a message on the screen reading, "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. 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!"
After a grueling 14 hours of no TikTok for all American users, a message popped up. "Welcome back! Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!" It was at this point that users began to realize that the entire ban on TikTok may have been a purely political move.
If Trump had originally called for the ban in the first place, why would there be an unbanning of the app only a short 14 hours later? Eventually, Trump said that the new date for the company to find a new buyer approved by the government was April 5, 2025. But on April 4th, Trump announced another extension of the sell-by date to mid-June.
Overall, the whole situation between TikTok and Donald Trump is a mystery that still has not been solved and continues to leave users wondering if the app will ever go dark again.
Honestly, I am personally against TikTok. No matter where I stand or the issues surrounding it's existence, TikTok has become something of a headache for me. It all dates back to high school before the whole controversy. It might be something related to my dislike of most popular or trending things. This whole TikTok business has become a mess and only has hurt its image. - VA
ReplyDeleteI will admit when TikTok was banned for those mere 14 hours back in January, I continued to open the app out of muscle memory. I realized then of just how much time I spent on the TikTok itself. Since then, I have tried to limit my screen time on the app.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I don't really have Tik Tok so I didn't miss it when the ban happened in January. Now that it isn't banned anymore I did download it out of fear that if it gets banned again I won't be singled out in society for not having it. When the ban happened all my friends had it so the ban didn't really affect them and while I have just never cared for Tik Tok overall, I found myself inclined to get it during the ban because of the fact that everyone was making such a big deal out of it. I haven't even opened the app since I downloaded it mainly because my habit is to go to Youtube but I am also worried that if I do open the app I will become addicted so I am trying my best to not open it. I agree the entire situation is messy and I just wish that we as a society weren't so reliant on the app so that if a ban did happen it wouldn't cause chaos In society but that is just my overall opinion. I liked your post today because it really caused me to think and I can't wait to read more of blogs throughout the next few weeks.
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