The past couple of weeks have been nerve wracking for many young people across the country. Gen Z’s most treasured app, TikTok, was set to be banned by the US government on January 18, 2025. The app, most known for its interactive dancing and lip syncing videos, is owned by the Chinese company Byte Dance, which the federal government claims is a threat to American users’ private information and data. This app has kept the nation entertained for the past seven years and its disappearance would make a significant change to many users’ lives. For most young Americans, TikTok is an arguably reliable source where most news is being consumed. Gen Z has grown up watching TikToks and for many it is more than just an app, it is a digital self discovery tool. People use TikTok to promote their businesses, interact with people who have similar interests, and join in on dances and trends. Leading up to the ultimate ban, former President Joe Biden gave Byte Dance nine months to find a US buyer or the app would vanish. Nine months passed and Byte Dance decided they would rather shut down the app than sell to an American company, so the app “went dark” preventing people from accessing it.
Fortunately for TikTok fans, the banishment did not even last a full 24 hours due to current President Donald Trump’s efforts to save it. President Trump, who was inaugurated for his second term on January 20, issued an executive order calling to end the ban for 75 days. In Trump’s first days in office, he signed many executive orders, and one of the biggest in the Gen Z community was saving TikTok. This is ironic, because during President Trump’s first term, he made many efforts to ban the app, but now he sees things differently. A new issue for many Americans is that those who deleted the app during the 12-hour dark period cannot get back on because TikTok was removed from the app store. Some fast thinking “entrepreneurs” have decided to sell iPhones with the TikTok app installed on them. These phones range in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Although there has not been any recent updates on the status of TikTok, Trump claimed that, “Every rich person has called me about TikTok.” Whether he means his sidekick Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, or Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, if no US buyer purchases the app from Byte Dance, TikTok may not only disappear from the app store, but disappear from the media completely.
