We all know and love TikTok, one of the most popular apps and the number one downloaded app globally, with 825 million downloads in 2024. However, the beloved app is no longer available to download in the United States. This has touched the hearts of many users and heightened emotions of anger, sadness, and nostalgia.
TikTok started as the app Musical.ly, attracting a teen and tween audience. Musical.ly was a social media platform where users could create short lip-syncing videos, challenge videos, or short comedy parodies. Musical.ly was owned by its founders Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang, alongside their investors. The social media app was first released in August of 2014. The app remained popular until ByteDance acquired Musical.ly and merged it with TikTok on August 2nd, 2018. However, TikTok encountered some difficulties in 2024.
Last year, in April 2024, former President Joe Biden signed a bill from the Senate forcing TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the app to an American company or face a ban on the app in the U.S. The reason for this is that the skeptics of national security officials in Washington expressed concerns about the potential influence of the Chinese government, particularly regarding its capacity to steal data including personal information, device information, and app usage data from users in the United States.
Biden then gave TikTok a year to find a buyer or be banned nationwide. The deadline for TikTok to sell the app was set for January 19, 2025. Fast-forward to the beginning of January 2025, users began genuinely worrying about the ban. Content creators who made money on the app started to consider their options so they would be prepared if the app was banned. Some people downloaded apps similar to TikTok, while others moved to other popular video-uploading apps such as YouTube or Instagram. One thing all users had in common was how upset they were about the ban.
After the bill was approved, TikTok followed with a lawsuit. The Supreme Court upheld the law. On January 18, 2025, the day before the deadline of the law, TikTok suspended its services in the United States. If an American user opened the app, it gave a pop-up note that stated, “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!” TikTok was then offline in the United States for about 14 hours, but a 75-day executive order was issued by President Donald Trump after he took office on January 20, 2025. This caused some controversy among the people in the U.S.
Many individuals who enjoyed TikTok expressed a wide range of opinions regarding the ban. Many criticized it as an infringement on free speech. Others argued that if the ban happens again, it would affect the younger audience who use the app as a source of entertainment and information. I asked some of my fellow peers about how they felt when they saw they couldn’t access the app and here’s what they had to say.
The first person I interviewed is a sophomore here at South El Monte High School. Alexa Argueta says, “When I couldn’t use the app anymore I felt so upset! TikTok is an app with many different communities all around the world. It sparked ideas and has helped people get creative. It has something that is different from any other app, nothing could compare.” I think many of us can agree with that! Another person I interviewed is Daniella Nunez, a sophomore here at South El Monte High School, “I think TikTok is a great app. It has its downsides like every social media app does, but overall it spreads positivity. I was so sad without it, even if it was only for a little bit.” she commented. Another student who’d like to remain anonymous added, “I think it’s great that TikTok is back and all, but I don’t like the fact that Trump was involved in bringing it back because now there are some minor changes that I’ve noticed. I think he just brought it back to get on good terms with people, to make him think he’s a good person and that he is looking out for the people when he’s really not.”
So what do you think? Are you an active user of TikTok? How will you feel if TikTok gets banned from the United States permanently? All we can do is stay tuned and find out what’s in store for TikTok.
