For the past five years, U.S. lawmakers have threatened to ban the beloved app: TikTok. This year, it actually happened. On Jan. 18, TikTok went dark and was wiped from American app stores.
Potential TikTok bans started in 2020, at the end of Trump’s presidency. He spearheaded an executive order to ban the app based on national security concerns. He strived for Microsoft to acquire the app, but that deal fell through. After intense debating, TikTok agreed to protect U.S. data in partnership with Oracle, an American multinational computer technology company.
In 2022, TikTok began routing all of its data to Oracle’s cloud infrastructure. Oracle then began examining the algorithms and guidelines to ensure that they weren’t being manipulated by the Chinese government. This was part of Project Texas, a $1.5 billion plan to protect American TikTok users.
In Mar. 2023, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew defended the app on the floor before lawmakers, who were fierce proponents of banning it. Chew stated that he and the app had little connection to the Chinese government or any Chinese organizations. He was repeatedly asked if he or the app had ever been associated with the Chinese Communist Party to which he responded, “Senator, I’m Singaporean, no.” House members still came out in support of a fully extended ban of the app.
Later that year, Montana became the first U.S. state to sign legislation banning the app. Several Republican-led states proposed bills restricting the app, but Montana was the first to do it. However, a federal judge blocked the ban before it could take effect.
In Mar. 2024, the House of Representatives passed the TikTok Bill, and in Apr., Biden signed the bipartisan law that forced TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to abandon its U.S. operation or face a nationwide ban. A month later, TikTok and ByteDance sued the federal government, arguing that the law was unconstitutional. Later that year, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice sued TikTok and ByteDance for violating children’s online privacy laws.
On Dec. 6, 2024, a federal appeals court decided that the TikTok ban was unconstitutional, which set the scene for a huge Supreme Court battle over the law. Later that month, Trump asked for a pause on the ban so that he had more time to review the ban and “resolve the dispute through political means”.
On Jan. 10, the Supreme Court heard arguments from all sides of the aisle and appeared to uphold the ban. The justices seemed to argue one point: TikTok would be able to maintain operation in the states if it used an algorithm other than the one created by ByteDance. Though some think that it violated the First Amendment, ByteDance, a Chinese company, doesn’t have First Amendment rights. If ByteDance didn’t sell the app to an American company, it wouldn’t have to shut down.
On Jan. 13, Senator Ed Markey appeared on the House Floor arguing for an extension of the sale deadline of 270 days. He stated that a large community and space for political discourse would be lost. He also argued that the U.S. economy would likely see a crash if the large consumer application were banned. He contended the same points as ByteDance, similar to a violation of the First Amendment.
Late in the evening on Jan. 18, 5 hours before the ban was supposed to take effect, the app went dark, with a message from the CEO displayed on the screen. The app was inactive in the U.S. for just over 12 hours before rebooting on Jan. 19 with a new message that read the following:
“Welcome back! Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
Though the app was reestablished in the states, it’s due to an extension for the divestment, not a complete scrapping of the bill. Users have speculated that Meta purchased the application, but those rumors were disproven. Others suggest that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk acquired the app instead, which Trump said he would be open to. Rumors have only grown following the Inaugural ceremonies that Musk and Chew attended.
Now, netizens are rejoicing in the app’s return and waiting to hear what comes next for their third-space.
