At around 10:30 pm Eastern time on the night of Saturday, January 18th, the TikTok app went dark across the United States.
TikTok is a popular social media app that allows users around the world to create, share, and watch short videos from their mobile devices. Although it caters to a more youthful audience, the platform’s abundance of entertaining content has drawn in people from all age groups, proving to be a versatile pastime.
Even greater than its entertainment are the opportunities that the app can provide. Content creators are able to make a profit off of the videos they produce after reaching a certain popularity level, and many rely on this profit as a source of income. It is also a key marketing tool for small businesses, who can use the platform to introduce, advertise, and sell their products in an accessible manner. TikTok has become a foundation in the salaries of people across the globe, making a ban not only threatening to people’s entertainment but to their livelihoods.
Nonetheless, the app’s ownership has been a consistent source of concern for national security. It is run by ByteDance, a Chinese technology company that acquired the app Musical.ly in November of 2017 and later transformed it into modern-day TikTok. As the app gained popularity in the US, officials grew wary about the Chinese government’s involvement with the platform and the threat this could pose to the country, warning that it may be stealing users’ personal information or spreading propaganda.
Worry for national safety prompted current President Donald Trump to issue an executive order near the end of his first term in 2020 that would prevent TikTok from being available in any app store. Former President Joseph Biden signed the federal ban on TikTok during his time in office, which says that the company must be sold to a non-Chinese owner in order for it to be unblocked for American use. Last Friday, January 17th, the Supreme Court chose to uphold this law, successfully banning TikTok from the US.
The highly-anticipated ban, however, fell short after a mere 12 hours following its Saturday initiation. President Trump signed several executive orders following his second-term inauguration on Monday, January 20th; delaying the TikTok ban for 75 days was among one of the first. This act tells the Attorney General to not take any current action to enforce the ban until the Trump administration has “an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward.” Put in place on Monday, this 75-day protection period extends through April 5th.
So, what exactly does Trump envision for the future of this app? The President told reporters that “the U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok.”
“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up,” Trump explains. “Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.”
In a statement from TikTok, the company thanked President Trump for his act, identifying it as “a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship” and promising to “work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.” On Sunday, Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that the now-President had been in contact with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the situation and “agreed to work together on this.”
Still, Trump’s support of the app’s continuation in the United States remains highly contradictory to his initial pro-ban stance from his primary term in office. In modern reports, the President has stated that “we have bigger problems” than China’s possible collection of data from children on TikTok. At the very least, it seems as if he has developed a fondness for the app that is shared by millions nationwide.
“I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok,” Trump admits. This sentiment was echoed as users joyously embraced its return.
Yet underlying the excitement of TikTok’s restoration are the haunting implications of what this may mean for democracy. President Trump was able to prevent the enforcement of a federal law, prompting a debate over whether or not he truly has the authority to make decisions at that level. This act was only concerned with the return of a mobile app; thus, the question remains as to whether or not Trump will continue to have the ability to override the nation’s legal system, and calls into question the limitations, or lack thereof, placed on modern presidential power in America.
