The internet’s favorite social media platform, TikTok, has been banned from the United States…for about 12 hours. In 2020, President Donald Trump brought attention to a potential national security threat from TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, a Chinese tech company. Since then, Congress gave ByteDance until January 19th, 2025, to divest from the popular social media platform. ByteDance failed to do so, and all accounts in the United States were unable to access the app starting January 19th.
On January 18th, millions of Americans’ accounts were disabled from using the app. The ban was scheduled for midnight on the 19th, but instead, accounts started getting banned as early as 8:00 PM on the 18th. This came as an unpleasant surprise to many users, which upsetted the millions who expected to still have hours until the ban. “I was very upset,” claimed junior Sofia Rose. “I thought at first it wasn’t going to happen; I was kind of in denial.”
When users opened the app, they were met with an immediate pop-up from the company. It informed them that, due to the newly passed law banning the app, access had been revoked in the United States. However, the notification included a line citing President Trump’s promise to work with ByteDance, suggesting that the ban could soon be reversed.
Within 12 hours, America regained access to the social media app. Users woke up to a new notification, claiming Trump’s efforts brought back TikTok in the US. This came as a shock to millions. Some were upset, including junior Coral Mcintyre, who had initially deleted the app months ago. “I’m kind of bummed,” stated McIntyre. “I was looking forward to people being normal and off their phones again.” From now on, American users can continue to create, discover, and share all kinds of content from TikTok.