On January 18th, at 7:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, TikTok went dark for all of the USA. TikTok was then reopened to America about 14 hours after the ban. Unfortunately, TikTok is still not available in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store until further notice.
TikTok was not the only app impacted by the ban. Many other apps, such as CapCut, Lemon8, and Gauth AI, were also banned due to ownership issues with ByteDance. Mr. Noonan highlighted the impact the ByteDance ban had on his broadcasting class:
“We decided for our elective promos this year that we were going to use CapCut to try something different. We got pretty far with our broadcasting project and were almost done, and then last weekend we opened up CapCut and it was blocked. I was keeping my fingers crossed it would come back, which it did.”
During the ByteDance ban, TikTok sent out a notification that stated, “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.” The notification later added, “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
Penelope Morales highlighted the impact TikTok had on her life: “TikTok helped me pass the time, but when it got banned, I deleted it. I don’t have it anymore. I had more time for things like doing my homework and getting my chores done.”
TikTok not only provides a platform for activities, exploration in videos, and interests, but it also supports millions of small businesses that rely on the platform to make money and run their operations. The ban could lead to financial difficulties for many families, creating trouble for them.
During the ban, the VPN workaround—popular for accessing sites unavailable in the U.S.—proved ineffective because TikTok completely ceased operations of its U.S.-based servers, removing access to all accounts registered on that server or with a U.S. phone number. Many users also ended up with viruses by downloading risky VPN sites without thoroughly checking them. These VPNs not only uploaded viruses but also failed to provide access to TikTok during the ban.
TikTok is not yet cleared for the ban, although the ban was extended for 75 days as of Monday, January 20th, when Trump took office. After this extension, TikTok will most likely go through the process again, but it has a good chance of being gone for good.
Andre Lopez • Jan 28, 2025 at 11:14 am
I don’t really care about it getting banned cause I never had it.
Brianda H. • Jan 28, 2025 at 9:24 am
Tik tok getting ban was something I didn’t care about, after all it was boring :/