What is happening with TikTok
TikTok is set to be banned on January 19th, 2025 permanently after a law Joe Biden signed back in April 2024 causing owner ByeDance to give up ownership or cease operations. As lawmakers are worried about the national security risk the app causes, they say it could be used by Beijing to spy on millions of Americans and spread propaganda. TikTok announced on January 19th that it would go dark in the United States and everyone would lose access to all of their data forever. If nothing goes into effect this weekend TikTok will be removed from the US App Store on Sunday, if not the app will be standing but there will be no updates to the app which will eventually cause it to crash and fail over time. “ Even if the ban does go into effect, it’s. Or necessarily permanent. ByteDance would still have the option to sell the platform to a non-Chinese owner to restore access for American users”. This is the only way to permanently save tik tok as a whole.
Who is associated with this ban?
President Trump is considering an executive order to keep the app from going dark; stated in US media reports, he also asked the Supreme Court to slow down the process to give him time to find another solution to the ban. In a news report posted Senator Mark Kelly states “ I know this is controversial. I know there are folks out there that earn a living, you know, on TikTok but it has a national security risk to it”. Another senator outside of Massachusetts proposed a law that will delay the ban on TikTok for 270 days. However, the law was not passed through Congress.
What Happened on January 19th?
On January 18th around 8:30 tik TikTok went dark. The app was unavailable to Americans for over 15 hours. It brought the majority into distress. The app was shortly available for use on January 19th around noon. A message popped up welcoming Americans back. President Trump ordered the federal government on Monday not to enforce the TikTok ban for at least 75 days, which should give ByteDance more time to sell tiktok to an American. After signing the executive order Trump told reports that TikTok is 50% owned by the USA. The app is still not available on the app store after the ban ( If you deleted it) but it is available for use as of today.
After an argument with the Supreme Court and TikTok, it is looking like the app is going to be safe due to Donald Trump.
Pros and cons of TikTok ban:
Pro
- Protects user privacy
- Protects data privacy
- Limits unwanted/harmful content from the public eyes
- Limits social media usage
Cons
- Brings entertainment
- Supports many businesses and influencers (causing0 people to lose their source of income)
- People use tik tok to connect
