For years, rumors have flown around about the American Government banning an extremely popular app known as TikTok, yet no action has been taken on this until now. Users of this social media app have feared the day that TikTok will no longer be available to them, which now has a much more realistic date set. It is said that on January 19th, 2025, TikTok will no longer have operations within the United States of America, as it will be shut down and blacked out. Here are the basic facts you need to know about the law being passed, and then being lifted.
The first piece of information needed is why it is being banned. According to IndyStar.com, the U.S. Department of Justice says “Tiktok, whose owner, ByteDance, based in Beijing, has access to American data and is sharing it with the Chinese government, and could manipulate the content on the app to shape American opinions.” As China advances as a country, the U.S. government seems to worry about the data they are collecting from American citizens, as they might be able to use this against our country, whether it is blackmail or persuading the minds of American people to be against their own government.
If ByteDance does not sell its app to an American company, as preferred by our government, it will be removed from American app stores, and internet service providers will be blocking it from their sites. Some are still hoping that President-elect Donald Trump will be able to save the social media platform. At the end of 2024, Trump asked the Supreme Court to pause any bans on the app so that his administration will be able to pursue a negotiated resolution. (IndyStar.com) Unfortunately, on January 17, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government can legally shut TikTok down in the U.S. However, President Trump delayed the ban so the app is up and running in America, although unavailable in app stores.
According to National Public Radio, or NPR News, President former Biden signed a bipartisan bill that said TikTok must spin off from its China-based parent company, or it will be forced to shut down in the U.S. The ban was contested by TikTok in court, they argued that it violated both the users’ and the company’s free speech rights listed in the First Amendment. The high court’s decision means that Apple and Google can no longer offer TikTok on their app stores.
Kyra Brady, a Junior at Fruita Monument High School, states “I feel distraught, devastated, hoodwinked, and robbed by the TikTok ban.” She explains that she has had the app downloaded since it was once known as “Musical.ly”.
“I feel a connection to this app because it is my Google, where I find songs, my cookbook, my therapist, and my Yelp.” She says, “Free my girl. She didn’t do it.” “Rest in peace to TikTok,” she declares, “From 2017 to 2025 you will be missed.” Ms. Brady says that she is moving to another Chinese-owned app called RedNote, and she loves it there, where she is currently learning Mandarin.