Tick-tock, Tick-tock,Tick-tock. The popular social media app, TikTok, was supposed to be banned on Jan. 19. Starting late Saturday night on Jan 18. TikTok was unavailable to all users in the United States for 12 hours. But, the app made a surprise reappearance when Donald Trump promised to lift the ban.
After his innauragion, President Trump issued an executive order that delayed enforcement of the ban for 90 days. To keep the ban lifted, the order says the app must be sold to a non-Chinese owner by early April. The app is currently owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company.
Why the ban of Tiktok
In an era of security and privacy concens, the United States government worried about TikTok sharing misinformation and sharing data with the Chinese government.
App stores like Apple and Google do not currently have the TikTok app on their platform; Only users who currently have the app downloaded can only access it.
How students are dealings and feelings about the ‘ban’
The possible banning of TikTok because of security concerns has been on the mind of teens, who are big users of the app.
Senior Tamiah Fernandez has been using TikTok since it was originally music-based. ”When I heard about the TikTok ban I felt like my childhood was gone,” she said. “It was unnecessary to ban TikTok for a day and then to just get it back. Makes no sense.”
The 90-day extension might bring hope to teens, “I feel good about the 90-day extension and I don’t think TikTok is going to get banned again afterwards,” she said.
Samya Khalian, a junior, found TikTok to be an outlet, “I’ve used it to project some of my deepest feelings in a funny way with comedy.”
But, the ban itself did not come to a shock to Samya. “When I found out about the TikTok ban, I wasn’t really surprised because it was previously rumored to happen eventually.”
Samya says selling TikTok may not solve the problem. “It depends if someone’s offer to buy TikTok is finalized because if it’s still owned by somebody in China, TikTok won’t live to see many more days.”
As TikTok was navigating its unpredictable future among the ban, many teens are wondering what’s to come and their social lives. While the U.S. government and Supreme Court continue to argue between security and the protection of the nation; after one week in office President Trump signed an executive order. The executive order is being used to create a fund which might be used to repurchase TikTok.
As of right now, it is a 50/50 chance on whether TikTok will see its golden days again. For teens who still have the app, they are just enjoying it till the very end. Or is it?
