The time has come. What felt like something that would never happen finally did when the largest social media app, TikTok, was banned by the United States on January 18th, 2025… for 14 hours, that is. At around 10:30 p.m. EST on January 18th, the TikTok app, along with Bytedance’s other popular app, CapCut, was made temporarily unavailable to users in the United States with a message saying, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.” The abrupt shutdown caused pandemonium as the users who devoted hours to the app now had to confront the fact that their scrolling days were over. That was until the app was suddenly made available out of the blue the very next day. “Thank you for your patience and support! As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” Read a message sent to the app users early afternoon on January 19th. So, is TikTok still banned? What’s going on, and why was it banned in the first place?

It all comes down to security concerns. TikTok, a Chinese-operated app, is believed to pose a national security threat to the United States. It’s no well-kept secret that social media apps collect and store your data to train their algorithms and to sell to advertisers; however, the data collected by TikTok is suspected to be sent to Chinese government officials. Although ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, claims that they keep all data secure and haven’t sent it to any government officials, the U.S. doesn’t want to risk millions of Americans’ data being taken. With China being seen as a major threat to the US, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this wasn’t the first time TikTok got banned; in 2023, 36 states banned TikTok on all government official devices, and in 2020, Trump had pushed for a ban on the app, in contrast to his support for the app today. 

As of now, the app is still not available on app stores; however, the app is still fully functional if installed. This is due to an executive order placed by President Trump that put a 75-day pause on the ban. The goal of this pause is to find a U.S. buyer for TikTok to retain its access in the United States. If TikTok doesn’t find a buyer by April 5th, then the ban will be reenacted, causing the app to be unavailable in the U.S. for good. Trump has expressed his interest in encouraging the entrepreneurs, Larry Ellison and Elon Musk, to purchase the app.

However, if you’re just an average American teenager who doesn’t care about the meta, hypothetical, political concerns, it can be quite jarring to hear that your favorite social media app is going to be banned. The common sentiment of many of the ex-TikTokers is disappointment. “I am very upset about the TikTok ban. I have a lot of memories on TikTok, and I have spent a lot of my time there,” 12th grade student and avid TikTok fan Ella Gardner said when asked about her feelings on the TikTok ban. “However, I think that if the Chinese spies’ claims are actually serious, then maybe it is best to have it banned,” Ella added. Over the past month, there have been many protests around the U.S. protesting against the ban, with many arguing the potential ban will disrupt small businesses that thrive off of TikTok. Others, meanwhile, are taking advantage of the ban to kick off the habit of wasting time on social media. Regardless, a ban on TikTok will definitely change the social media landscape for better and for worse.

For now, you can enjoy the scrolling while it lasts. The fate of TikTok is unknown, but by the looks of it, TikTok is in some hot water. If TikTok doesn’t find a buyer by April 5th, then it’s safe to say that TikTok will not be available in the U.S. However, with it being the largest social media app ever, there is some hope that it will be purchased. Only time will tell the fate of this app.