On the evening of Jan. 18, TikTok went dark for users across the United States, becoming the first social media platform to be banned in the U.S. from public use. After a week of influencer goodbye videos and frantically saving drafts, the app restarted the next afternoon, only about 12 hours after it went dark.
On Apr. 24, 2024, former President Joe Biden signed legislation stating that ByteDance, the parent company to TikTok, must sell TikTok to a U.S. owner by Jan. 19, 2025, to avert the ban. This legislation was created in response to concerns about the company’s links to the Chinese government. On Jan. 18, the platform had yet to be sold, resulting in the app shutting down several hours before the ban would officially take effect.
The app showed a message to users that read, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.” The app was also removed from Apple and Google’s U.S. app stores.
TikTok has 170 million monthly users in the U.S., many of whom are part of Generation Z. As a generation raised among the ever-growing presence of technology and a digital world, social media is a familiar lens through which young adults interact with and understand the world. TikTok provides a variety of entertainment, news, education and community to users.
First-year Anne Shannon believes TikTok’s role as a news source is important to Gen Z.
“I feel like Gen Z depends on TikTok as their main source of news and information,” Shannon said. “With the constantly decreasing attention spans of our generation, it’s easier to watch a 60-second video while doom-scrolling than it is to read and sort through articles online.”
Biden stated that he would leave the issue of the ban to President Donald Trump once inaugurated. Early the morning of Jan. 19, Trump said that following his inauguration the next day, he would issue an executive order to delay the enforcement of the law. Trump’s statement allowed TikTik to restore user access before the executive order was signed the following day.
TikTok reopened later that afternoon, welcoming users back with the message, “Welcome back! Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
While this reinstatement is not permanent, Trump is expected to give ByteDance more time to find an American owner.
While this comes as a relief to millions of American TikTok users, students have differing opinions on the long-term effects of a TikTok ban on their generation.
“I honestly don’t think Gen Z would be that affected in the long run,” Shannon said. “They would just turn to other apps like Instagram Reels or Youtube Shorts.”
For first-year Sylvie Brekke, the TikTok ban came as a surprise and prompted concern about government control.
“It felt like an infringement of free speech,” Brekke said. “I was surprised to see the point we have come to in our country. I don’t use TikTok much, so I wasn’t worried about not having access as much as others were. I was more worried about the principle behind it being banned.”
