Aundrea Orozco-Cifuentes also contributed to this article
Nothing is as enticing and cherished as an app that can generate life-changing marketing for businesses, spread a meme nationally in a matter of days, and generate viral trends worldwide. To many, TikTok is not only an app, it’s a source of inspiration, revenue, and community building.
“All of my favorite videos or videos that I find useful from creators that I follow are nurses and medical field officials, so I watch a lot of their videos to try to get influenced. It gives me a lot of good information. My ‘for you’ page is not all brain rot,” sophomore Francesca Marenghi detailed.
The beloved app has a history of banning rumors due to worries over national security; the community and its creators have gone into a frenzy with the annual occurrence of a possible ban. This time around, the stakes were heightened as the ban became a reality.
“I didn’t believe it at first because I feel like this happens every year,” explained sophomore Istahil Hassan.
A Supreme Court hearing to discuss the ban was set for January 17th, 2025. News of this hearing traveled quickly throughout the app, leaving its users dumbfounded as they spent what could have been their last days on the app.
TikTok replaced the old video platform Musical.ly in September of 2016. It promised to preserve the infamous short-form media of Musical.ly, but instead of focusing on lip-synching videos to popular songs, TikTok incorporated dancing trends. Due to this content being delivered quickly, it’s easy to get lost in scrolling and lose track of time. Many find themselves addicted to the app, feeling a reliance on it for entertainment.
“There is a high addiction to it. The society we live in today, in regards to the younger generations, is tuned to having things delivered in a quick way. I came from what we call the MTV generation, where we wanted everything in three to four minutes. As things collapsed, now kids want everything in seven to eight seconds, and if they don’t get it in seven to eight seconds, they’re not going to pay attention to it,” media teacher James Valente commented.
Over the nine years that TikTok has existed, countless trends have taken over the app and pop culture. The energy of the app suddenly shifted after the court date had been set, and many creators posted their old viral videos from some of the most iconic eras of TikTok.
The community united through reminiscing on their favorite trends, recirculating them throughout the app, and reposting compilations of famous memes.
Once the dreaded day came, users spent their final hours on TikTok in anticipation of what would happen. The app began slowing down and glitching, not allowing users to scroll or like videos. Suddenly, users began getting messages that the platform had been banned.
A shock rang through the air, and people suddenly realized the gravity of the situation and that the app had been banned. “I didn’t believe it at first until it actually happened,” junior Taliyah Lauture shared. Users flooded Instagram and other social media platforms to discuss the ban, and many started livestreams as a space for people to communicate their feelings in regards to the ban.
“It feels like with everything that’s going on with our country, we have a lot of gun violence, we have a lot of hate crimes circulating, and at MHS with its diverse community we have a lot of different opinions circulating, but Tiktok is the least of our worries,” Marenghi exclaimed.
The Supreme Court ultimately ruled on January 19th that the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would make it illegal to maintain the platform of TikTok unless it was operated by the United States and severed Chinese control. TikTok is still owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, therefore, the app was deleted from the app store due to not appealing to the new act.
“What I don’t like about TikTok is the fact that it is a Chinese-run company, and because of that, their algorithm is not disclosed, so we don’t understand how they collect the data that they use. It makes it very consequential to what we do as a country, and that’s what’s scary. I think if TikTok wants to be something that society can depend on for entertainment and information, they should have to release their algorithm, and because they won’t, it leads us to believe that they’re doing something unfounded,” Valente argued.
However, barely 24 hours later, newly elected President Donald Trump passed a policy to delay the ban for 75 days. The new message that was displayed as you opened the app post-ban credited Trump with working with ByteDance to keep TikTok available for U.S. users.
“I think the fact that the president had a little bit of say in this, the fact that he is someone who is entrepreneurial and also a businessman, he recognizes that it’s not just a social media app. It is also a way for people to make money, not just for the TikTok enterprise but for people who are on it,” Valente continued.
Ultimately, TikTok has returned to the app store, and users have not seen their final days on the app yet. With the large impact TikTok has had on society, preserving the app will allow users to continue sharing their lives, advice, and knowledge.
