Story by Clementine Evans
Online Managing Editor

Illustration by Nathan Friezer
Staff Illustrator

TikTok was officially banned on Sunday, Jan. 19., but only for a brief period of time. On Friday, Jan. 17, the Supreme Court upheld a bipartisan law that stated that TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, had to sell to American buyers by Jan. 19 or face a ban. However, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday, Jan. 21 to lift the ban for 75 days for ByteDance to find a US company to sell to. 

On Saturday, TikTok’s 170 million American users were faced with a notification upon opening the app that read, “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok when he takes office. Please stay tuned!” TikTok, along with other apps owned by ByteDance such as Lemon8 and CapCut, were also unavailable in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store on Sunday. 

TikTok was soon after able to restore access to its many American users even without an official order, solely based on a simple promise from Trump. He plans to delay the deadline for ByteDance to sell to American buyers, thereby extending TikTok’s life. 

The law that took effect on Sunday required ByteDance to sever ties with its U.S. operations because of national security risks. Originally passed in 2024 to address national security concerns, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Controlled Applications Act also gives the sitting president the ability to grant a 90-day extension if a “viable sale” is in the works.   

The app serves as a source of news, entertainment, and even business for some. Shutting down the app to “protect” Americans from “Foreign Controlled Applications” is not the path to success and is unreasonable for both creators and users. 

TikTok has created a community for over 170 million Americans. It is a space to create, inspire, and discover. Content creators and influencers more or less rely on TikTok as their source of income, having created businesses that exist solely on the social media platform. TikTok encourages self expression and creative thought, bridges physical and geographical barriers to allow people from different cultures to interact, and fosters diversity among its creators and users.

One of TikTok’s main arguments against the ban was that it violated First Amendment rights to the freedom of speech and expression. The Supreme Court, however, found that Congress did not violate the First Amendment because they were taking action to prevent Beijing-based ByteDance from collecting massive amounts of American data. The justices also noted that because TikTok gathers significant personal information and data about its users, such as location and contact lists, China — a designated foreign adversary — could “track the locations of federal employees, craft dossiers of information for blackmail and corruption” and “conduct corporate espionage,” according to CBS News. 

For the U.S. government to ban an entire communication platform, they must prove that a complete prohibition is the only way to prevent an imminent national security threat. That is not what is happening with TikTok. Although the app is owned by a Beijing-based parent company that allegedly collects personal data, there is no urgent threat to American safety. The government is proactively banning TikTok, fearing that the Chinese government will be able to access Americans’ personal data. Thus, this ban infringes on Americans’ First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and expression. 

Although some might argue that TikTok spreads misinformation, the same can be said about other social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, X, and Facebook. However, the difference is that the U.S. government believes that ByteDance will distribute Americans’ personal data to the Chinese government, making them an even more dangerous foreign threat. However, companies like Meta and Google also collect personal data from their users. 

Unilaterally dismantling a social media platform where creators build content and community, a platform that gives people a space to create and connect unfairly targets its users. Instead, Congress should pass a federal privacy law regulating how all companies can collect, store, analyze, and sell Americans’ personal information.