On January 19th, 2025 the popular social media app TikTok and other affiliated apps like CapCut and Lemon8 were banned from use in the United States. The ban came after months of attempts by the federal legislature to oust TikTok from American usage.
“I was not in favor of the TikTok ban once I heard that it was real,” said junior Jasmine Thomas. “I believe that there are more significant issues to worry about than TikTok.”
In April of 2024, US Congress passed a bill stating that ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, had nine months to sell TikTok to an American company or face a ban in the US.
The US is not the only country to have banned the app.
According to PBS, Tiktok has been banned in Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Somalia for various reasons ranging from Nepal’s claim of TikTok “disrupting social harmony” to India’s border disputes with China.
Additionally, TikTok is banned from government issued devices in the European Union and 13 countries, including the United States. Around half of US states have also banned the app from their state’s government issued devices.
The January 19th ban was not the first time TikTok has been threatened to be banned in the US on the basis of security concerns.
In an article published by the Associated Press, a major attempt to ban TikTok happened in August of 2020. The ban came from then and now current US President Donald Trump as retaliation for China’s alleged mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Donald Trump himself.
In the months leading up to the 2025 ban, many were split on whether they supported the ban or not.
“I wasn’t really affected because I had deleted [TikTok] at the end of my 10th grade year,” said junior Amelia Waldram. “I wasn’t for or against [the ban] but I did have friends that were stressed and didn’t want the ban to happen, however, I did not care [whether TikTok was banned or not].
Some question whether the ban was in good faith, especially due to concerns of the removal of current event news via social media, which has become a very popular genre of content on TikTok since 2020. Social media has become one of the most used ways for people, especially those under 30, to receive news.
“Although decisions like these can definitely help protect our country, it’s hard to believe this was done with good intentions,” said senior Daniel Brown. “The idea of banning TikTok has to be the most bizarrely un-American decision I have seen in a while.”
Once the ban took effect, a few hours earlier than expected at around 9pm EST on January 18th, the app was inaccessible until the very next day at around noon.
Though the app was restored, TikTok is absent from both the Google PlayStore and the App Store for Apple devices.
“To all of the people who deleted TikTok after the ban, YOU ARE HEARD! We will get through this together,” said Thomas.
While TikTok is back in the US for now, the executive order issued by President Donald Trump is set to end on April 5th, 75 days after the January 19th ban. As of February 14th, 2025, the Google Play Store and Apple app store have restored TikTok to both of their platforms.
