On Jan. 19, 2025, at roughly 10:30 p.m., the popular short-form video app TikTok suspended its services to hundreds of millions of users in the United States. The ban received mixed responses of disappointment and humor from major influencers online. However, after just 12 hours, TikTok resumed operations under new guidelines and restrictions placed by the newly inaugurated president Donald Trump. These inconsistent regulations of TikTok have triggered questions about the legitimacy of why America’s most downloaded mobile app was banned in the first place.
For years, the U.S. government has raised concerns about TikTok, as officials believed it to pose a national security threat.
“I think Congress and the president were concerned that China was accessing information about millions of Americans, tens of millions of Americans,” said Supreme Court associate justice Brett Kavanaugh. “They would use that information over time to develop spies, to turn people, to blackmail people, people who a generation from now will be working in the FBI or the CIA or in the State Department.”
On Jan. 10, representatives of TikTok appeared in front of the Supreme Court. They denied any involvement with the Chinese government and claimed that upholding the law would violate the First Amendment.
“The government cannot restrict speech in order to protect us from speech,” said TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco.
It isn’t uncommon for governments with strong foreign interests to engage in espionage, especially between competing countries like the United States and China.
“One hundred percent guaranteed that the United States does it, and every other major developed country does this as well. But there is no question in my mind that [the TikTok user] data is being abused,” said Upper School computer science teacher Mitchell Griest.
Francisco also stressed that banning such a popular app could lead to consequences such as censorship. After the extensive trial between TikTok and the U.S. government, Congress upheld the TikTok ban by unanimous decision. U.S. executives believed the presence of a foreign-owned app in the lives of half the country to be a nation-wide threat to user data privacy. Under a bipartisan law signed by former president Joe Biden, TikTok had until Jan. 19 to be sold to a non-Chinese company or to cease operation in the United States.
The following day, TikTok’s status would be put into the hands of president-elect Donald Trump. Unlike his stance toward TikTok during his first term, Trump expressed the belief that the app could be saved.
“I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect so that we can make a deal to protect our national security,” said Trump.
Trump’s order doesn’t exactly overturn the ban but rather prevents the law from being enforced for the time being, allowing a 90-day extension for TikTok to change its ownership. TikTok, along with many other popular apps such as Capcut and Lemon 8, are owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. Under the law, apps owned by ByteDance would cease operation in the United States, but Trump’s executive decision doesn’t undo all aspects of its restrictions. Many companies’ removal of TikTok is fixed, as returning a ByteDance-owned app to their store would result in billions of dollars in fines. Users with the app preinstalled were met with a message thanking Trump for his efforts to bring TikTok back to the United States and were able to use the app normally.
The main concern among U.S. government officials was that ByteDance could be forced to hand over user data to the Chinese government, but some believe it extends farther than just a data security concern.
“There’s definitely grounds to consider that the bipartisan effort behind the ban is part of a bigger anti-China sentiment that seems to be pervasive in policy-making right now,” said Matthew Munday, an Upper School history teacher with a PhD in public policy and political economy. “If TikTok was owned by, say, Britain or France, I’m not sure there’d be as much outrage.”
Multiple bills have been passed to protect American citizens’ online security from China, which is deemed a “foreign adversary.” Critics also consider the ban futile, believing the data security concerns regarding TikTok pale in comparison to other data the Chinese government has accessed. Of the publicly released information, 224 accounts of espionage and 1200 cases of intellectual property theft occurred from China against America since 2000. Concerns extend outward toward non-foreign apps as well, such as Google and Meta. They insist that instead of emphasizing the ban of a single app, implementing U.S. regulations that protect user data security on all tech platforms would be more effective.
Some view the ban as a possible anchor for future online security developments. Currently, there is no comprehensive federal law governing online data security, and in most American states, companies can share, collect, and sell user data without permission.
“If the TikTok ban just happens, and then there’s no further developments, I feel like we’ve missed an important conversation about what data privacy means, and how to protect it beyond banning individual firms,” said Munday.
From a societal standpoint, banning an app that can be very addictive could foster positive changes in younger generations. Many young users noted a brief period of feeling like they could take a break from the screen and focus on other activities.
“I thought OK, good, it’s time for me to get off of TikTok,” said ninth grader Panthea Refai. “TikTok takes a lot of time from my academic efforts. It’s really hard to get off of it.”
The rising popularity of short-form videos, especially TikTok, has scientifically resulted in a shorter attention span throughout the years. Researchers found that the average attention span of Gen-Z individuals was eight seconds, a dramatic 30 percent decrease from two decades ago. Studies have linked this decline to poor attentiveness, low performance, and mental health issues, especially with today’s techno-centric lifestyle. Removing a single social media app doesn’t guarantee a change in the overall trend in Gen Z, however, as many other apps with the same format as TikTok are widely available.
TikTok’s removal may be detrimental for some. As with any other social media platform, TikTok is a thriving opportunity for small business owners, influencers, and entrepreneurs to grow. Social media campaigns and promotions are crucial for online stores, and engaging 30-second videos can attract customers worldwide. The potential ban is a major concern for these developing businesses, as many content creators rely heavily on social media for their income. Reestablishing brand recognition on new sites with a completely different target audience would be difficult.
The final judgment and full influence of TikTok’s potential ban are yet to be known. As the executive extension passes, ByteDance has been unable to find a buyer. The future of TikTok is full of uncertainties, but if just 12 hours off an app could cause significant controversy, the outcome will likely become a major milestone in today’s world.
Edited by Chris Qin
