Cadence Sneed

“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”

This is the notification that popped up on millions of Americans’ screens on the evening of Jan. 18 after a Supreme Court decision declaring it an issue of national security.

Those who were scrolling were kicked off, and those who tried to open the application were met with the notification and unable to do anything but read it and close TikTok. Many people were left devastated by the ban, whether it be the creators who had spent time building a platform there, or the viewers who simply enjoyed scrolling. TikTok has served as a place for community and friendship, escapism, learning, spreading awareness about important issues and even careers for some people. Knowing this, it’s no wonder the ban caused such backlash across the country.

Many people began moving to other short-form video platforms, such as Instagram reels, YouTube shorts and the China-based app Xiaohongshu, also known as Rednote. While there were these other options available, many people did not think these apps lived up to what TikTok is/had been.

However, the sadness was short lived, as on Jan. 19, just a mere fourteen hours later, the ban was lifted, once again allowing US users full access to the app. 

While everyone was mostly happy about it being back, the whole situation was a bit strange to a lot of people. A few days before the ban was put into place, Biden said that he would not do anything to enforce the ban for the last hours he was the president. Additionally, Trump had also stated that he would not ban the app when he got into office despite being the original leading force behind getting the app banned.

We are left to wonder what will be next for not only this app but other apps to come.