On Saturday, January 19, 2025 the popular video sharing platform, TikTok, was banned for 170 million American users. However, to people’s surprise, the app was back up after about 12 hours. Many people believed that the app was going to be banned for a year or even longer. Due to this, users had very heavy feelings about “the end of TikTok.”
Many people use TikTok very often. Junior, Heaven, said, “I used it like everyday.” TikTok being a part of people’s everyday lives caused people not only to be sad about the situation but even angry. People even went to the extent of calling President Trump out personally by tagging him in videos or posts about their opinions on why the TikTok ban was useless and not worth happening. Others who were more sad about the situation thought it was unfortunate that TikTok was being banned considering it was such a well loved platform.
Users also found TikTok to be useful. Alyssa Antunez, a sophomore, talked about what she used TikTok for. “It’s informational and it kind of keeps you up on what’s happening in the world,” Antunez said. Trending news is easy to find on TikTok. Videos about new events are very popular to see on the app. The platform can even be used as its own search engine. If you need information about something you can search it up on TikTok and find varieties of videos related to your topic.
Apart from the emotions many users were feeling, some people found that TikTok getting banned could be beneficial. Student, Juliana Lapping, said that while she would be negatively impacted by the ban she also believed it could benefit her. “I also think there’d be a positive impact because I would be more active and try other hobbies,” Lapping said. TikTok being banned would have helped a lot of users become more productive and spend less time on their phone. Majority of some user’s screen time is spent on TikTok. Many students have said that they procrastinate and not do homework and instead mindlessly scroll on the platform.
Overall, the momentary ban caused lots of different emotions for the 170 million American users. People found the ban unfair and unnecessary but some people found a benefit to the ban. For now the app is back up until a U.S buyer can be found.