A national ban across the U.S.
by Marli Gingell
Managing Editor
The app TikTok has been extremely popular across the world dating all the way back to 2014, when it was originally Musical.ly. It has an immensely diverse platform where people have the opportunity to create, watch and discover. Just in the United States alone, the app has over 170 million users with about 90% using it daily.
Due to TikTok’s unique algorithm, U.S citizens, and people, all over the world have been able to build entire careers just from a couple viral videos and the development of a fan base. Addison Rae, a popular creator, has used her TikTok fame to create an entire career. Since the disband of the Hype House, a content house featuring popular TikTok creators from 2020-2021, she has released music, starred in movies and commercials, and even appeared in the August 2023 Vogue edition.
Starting in 2020, a nationwide ban on TikTok had been proposed. In April, of 2024, Biden signed a bipartisan bill, supporting the ban. The deadline for American citizens was set for January 19th, 2025, but the app “went dark” two and a half hours earlier than originally planned, making the app inaccessible on January 18th, 2025, instead.
Before the ban took place, numerous American users were posting old, drafted videos from years prior. Trends began just hours before TikTok became unusable, such as confessions from popular creators, recreating old viral videos and edits of popular memes that have cycled through the app over the years. From a U.S. citizen’s perspective, it was inspiring to see how many people came together before what was believed to be the end of a beloved app.
President Trump, who was originally in favor of the ban, was featured and thanked in many of the TikTok messagings warning users of the recent updates. Trump also claimed he intended to sign an executive order, the first day of his presidency, to restore TikTok in the United States. Fourtanely, the app only “went dark” for around 15 hours before returning to usage on January 19th, 2025. Even so, the app was not immediately available in the app store.
As of now, TikTok is back to being available for Americans who hadn’t deleted the app, helping to ease the nerves of many people who were scared to lose their favorite program.
Photo courtesy of Bing images.