On Jan.18, for about 14 hours, TikTok went dark for the roughly 170 million Americans who use the popular short form video app.
The next morning, Americans found themselves once again able to scroll the app.

The app’s brief closure happened due to the years-long efforts by the U.S. government to ban the app coming to fruition. In March 2024, the House republicans, as part of a high priority package, added the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. In April 2024, the Senate also passed the bill, sending it to Biden’s desk. In signing this law, the U.S. was on par to join countries including Albania, Somalia and Afghanistan in banning the app.
“I think it’s a grim warning of the ever present but ever growing divide between ideologies and what would be done to protect those ideologies,” senior Eli Rosenberry said.
The government’s stated goal for banning the app is on the grounds of national security concerns since ByteDance, a Chinese owned company, is the parent company of the app; however some students have their doubts.
“I think one of the reasons they wanted to ban it is to limit our freedoms of speech, and to keep better tabs on what we are saying since they didn’t have control over what mostly teens were expressing on the app,” senior Malus Tilson said.
Freshman Anthony Riccio believes banning the app for national security reasons is now a fruitless effort.
“I and a lot of other people have been on the app since it came out,” Riccio said. “It’s already been around for so long, so if they wanted our data they would already have it.”
Following his second inauguration on Jan. 20, a day after the ban took effect, Trump signed an executive order telling the Justice Department to not enforce the ban for 75 days. This is within his right, since the law passed by Congress gives the president the ability to extend the sell-by deadline for up to 90 days one time. Despite this, app stores in the U.S. have stopped housing the app due to concerns they could later be sued for doing so.

If ByteDance does not sell TikTok to an American company within the 75 days Trump allotted, the app will most likely stop operating in the U.S. for good. This is a blow for many students who use TikTok as a creative outlet.
“I’ve been on TikTok for maybe five years,” senior Zion Patterson said. “I do it for fun, it helps me connect with people on a different level. Some of the videos I make are inspirational, and some are heartfelt.”
Other students enjoy the app simply for its entertaining content.
“I just like to scroll in my free time when I’m bored or before going to bed,” Riccio said. The enticing algorithm that captivates so many teens is cause for concern to Patterson, who can see the possible benefits of the ban.
“I’m not a big fan of it [the ban], but I think it’s probably a good thing since a lot of kids are spending so much time on it and seeing things they shouldn’t,” Patterson said.
In response to the ban, some have turned to Instagram Reels.
“I like TikTok more than Instagram Reels because it’s funnier,” senior Maximus Steele said. “When TikTok got banned, I was depressed for a minute and had to make an Instagram Reel.”

Some students, like the over 100,000 TikTok influencers in the U.S., have reaped the benefits of the financial and business advantages TikTok has to offer.
“When my twirling costume designer started TikTok, it was just a small business, but now because of the app his business has exploded,” senior Emilee Starr said. “He’s getting asked to make costumes for twirlers from all across the country.”
An overlooked downside of the ban is the “trickle down” effect it has on other ByteDance owned apps, like the editing software CapCut which is now also banned.
“CapCut is an editing software owned by ByteDance, so it too got banned when TikTok did,” senior MLTV member Luke Mitchell said. “I’m very distraught by the whole situation since that was my whole editing software, so now I’m going to have to revert back to iMovie like in the olden days.”
If ByteDance doesn’t divest, Americans can still use ByteDance apps, so long as they’re not in the country.
“I was in Peru, and everyone was posting on their stories that TikTok was banned,” freshman Vida Blanco Peterman said.“My dad tried accessing it, and it was perfectly fine.”
Due to students’ love for the app, some jokingly consider moving abroad to access the app.
“I’m going in withdrawal. I, as well as my constitutional rights, are in shambles.” sophomore Riley Behe said. ”I’m going to Canada.”