The United States (US) government temporarily shut down TikTok, the widely popular social media platform owned by the Chinese company, ByteDance, January 18. The US Supreme Court ruled January 17, that the US government can legally ban TikTok, according to npr.com. The US government banned TikTok due to national security concerns, fearing the company’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party. However, just 12 hours after they shut down the app it was back online. President Donald John Trump issued an executive order delaying the ban, which allowed the app to reopen. This decision has sparked debate and controversy throughout the country and raised many questions to what the future holds for this platform.
TikTok is a social media platform for creating and sharing short videos. While other social media platforms rely on friends or followers to design your feed, TikTok uses an algorithm to deliver content to users based on their engagement, according to The New York Times. The app floods users with a continuous stream and keeps them engaged for long periods of time. This high level of engagement can turn addictive, which is one of the reasons prompting the US government to ban its usage. TikTok has evolved significantly since its launch in 2016. In 2017, ByteDance bought out one of its competitors, Musical.ly, and merged it with TikTok. In 2018, TikTok launched and rebranded. With its vast library of music, tools, and viral trends, TikTok has become a central point of young people’s lives, according to The New York Times.

The US government has long expressed concerns about TikTok’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the potential threat to Americans’ privacy and national security. In October 2019, US politicians began raising concerns that the Chinese Communist Party could compel Chinese companies, such as ByteDance, to share their user data through their apps. As a result, investigators launched a federal investigation into TikTok’s operations and its acquisition of Musical.ly, according to apnews.com. By May 2020, privacy groups filed a complaint against TikTok alleging violations of child privacy laws, according to apnews.com.
As national security concerns mounted, President Trump announced in July 2020 that he was considering banning TikTok due to growing fears about its impact on US security and influence on American users, according to The New York Times. Following this statement, in August 2020, President Trump issued an executive order prohibiting US companies from interacting with ByteDance and directing it to divest its US relations, according to apnews.com. In response, TikTok sued the Trump Administration, arguing that the executive order violated due process, according to The New York Times.
The legal battle stalled in November 2020 when former President Joseph Robinette Biden won the 2020 Presidential Election and subsequently postponed the legal battles surrounding President Donald John Trump’s plan to ban TikTok. As a result, concerns over the app subsided until March 2024, when the US House of Representatives passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to ban TikTok, according to selectcomiteeontheccp.house.gov. The bill targets TikTok and other foreign controlled apps in an effort to restrict them for national security purposes, according to selectcomiteeontheccp.house.gov.
The US Senate held a bipartisan vote of 79-18 to ban the TikTok app after many attempts to regulate and restrict the app in April 2024, according to reuters.com. Former President Joseph Robinette Biden signed the vote into law. In an effort to block the ban, ByteDance and TikTok then sued the federal government, arguing that the law was unconstitutional. Despite their challenge, the US Supreme Court upheld the law and decided January 17, 2025, that the U.S. government can legally shut down TikTok in the US. The government scheduled the ban to take effect January 18, 2025 unless ByteDance successfully sold TikTok’s US operations, according to The New York Times.

After federal law went into effect, TikTok went offline starting late Saturday, January 18. Twelve hours later, the TikTok app went back online due to President Trump’s executive order delaying the ban, according to The New York Times. Although, President Trump previously wanted to ban TikTok, he seems to have had a change of heart and attributes his political success in the recent election to the app. He believes that TikTok holds great monetary value and this sparked his idea for a 50-50 share of TikTok between ByteDance and a new US owner, according to thehill.com.
“Without US approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, maybe trillions,” President Trump said, according to thehill.com. “Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the US gets a 50 percent ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose.”
In the long run, TikTok’s future has two critical options. A new law could pass reversing the old law to preserve TikTok’s availability in the US, according to CNN. However, this would be difficult given the overwhelming bipartisan in the US Senate. Another option is forcing a sale with an acceptable buyer. Some people speculate that Mr. Elon Musk could be a potential buyer as he has the resources and is a supporter of President Trump, according to cnn.com. For now, it is unclear what the future holds for TikTok.
Featured Image by Michaela White ’26