As January 19th came around the corner, people prayed for the rumors of TikTok being banned to be false. After many back and forths on the subject, people weren’t sure about the outcome of the banning of TikTok. However, as the night came, we initially got an important update from TikTok. In summary, it explained the law banning TikTok and how they are working to restore the service in the U.S as soon as possible.
Although we got this message, the TikTok app continued to work. You were able to scroll through your for you page, like videos, and even create your own.
However, after two hours of thinking TikTok could’ve possibly been saved, we got another message. To summarize, it said you cant use TikTok anymore and that the owners of TikTok are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he would do his best in trying to save the app.
The second message left people with questions. How long would the app be banned? Or would it ever be unbanned? We all went to bed without our nightly scrolls, and woke up in the morning unaware of the future of TikTok. At least for me, Id continue to click into the app forgetting that it had been banned. When clicking into he app, I’d get met by a reload page that wouldn’t allow me to scroll any further.
Then, with the app only being banned for not even 24 hours, the app came alive again. You were able to school, like, and view TikToks. This unbanning left a lot of people confused. Everyone felt like it was such an unnecessary ban that didn’t lead to any sort of resolution.
In the welcoming message when TikTok became unbanned, they thanked Donald Trump for his efforts in saving TikTok. However, a lot of people have mixed emotions towards the thanking of the president. Some people do believe that Trump was the one to save TikTok, but some people have also pointed out the fact that he was the one who brought up banning TikTok in the first place. During his last term he was very adamant about not liking TikTok and wanting to ban the app. He switched up before his second term and said that he likes TikTok and doesnt want it banned, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was the one who brought it up first. Many American politicians feared the Chinese government stealing users data on the app.
So all in all, TikTok was “banned” for only about 15 hours. It also seems to be back in normal working condition for all users who are on the app.
