2025 TikTok Ban: What to Expect and Understand About the Ban

TikTok, a social media platform used by over 170 million Americans, designed for content creators to create, share, and publish videos to their audiences, faced a ban over the weekend of January 19th. American TikTok users were unable to access the app once the ban was put into motion on Saturday evening. However, the ban unexpectedly lasted for only 14 hours.

The TikTok ban has been brought to light in the past few weeks, but it's been a long time coming for this ban to be put into place. Starting back in February of 2019, just 3 years after the app was created, TikTok was faced with its first lawsuit regarding the collection of data from US citizens. Since then, TikTok has faced more lawsuits and has been brought to public attention as a national security risk due to it being run by ByteDance, a Chinese-owned company. Many politicians believe that TikTok could give China the ability to steal and use Americans’ data, and could threaten US national security.

In March of 2024, former President Biden signed a law stating that TikTok’s owners, ByteDance, must sell the app to a US-approved buyer within nine months, and if they fail to do so, TikTok would be banned. However, in 2025, current President Trump gave ByteDance a 75-day extension, enabling them to keep TikTok running in the United States.

During his first term as president, Trump backed the ban on TikTok, making the same argument towards protecting national security. Then, while running for office in late 2024, the President began to oppose the ban on TikTok. The most likely reason for Trump ending up wanting to save TikTok would be to gain support, which would be helpful to his campaign for office.

Bill Bishop, a China expert who has been closely following the exchanges between Trump and TikTok, told AP News that, “If the ban ends up being enforced, Trump will say it was on outgoing President Joe Biden’s watch... And if it does come back then Trump is a savior.”

According to NPR, the day after the ban was enforced, “Donald Trump issued a statement vowing to pause the law and said he would extend a liability shield to tech companies that support TikTok, as the app's future is worked out by his incoming administration.” This statement effectively brought TikTok back to all American users. 

The ban is unlikely to happen during Trump's 4 year term as President, because of his efforts to keep TikTok accessible to all Americans, although TikTok is currently not available on the App Store, and there are still many efforts being made to “re-ban” TikTok. Only the future will show what will happen to TikTok, but as of now, if you currently have the app on your phone, you are still able to access its content.

Sources:

   1) “Trump's evolution on TikTok: From backing a ban to being hailed as a savior,” AP News

   2) “The US TikTok ban – a full timeline,” Tom's Guide

   3) “TikTok is back online in the U.S., following Trump’s promise to pause the ban,” NPR

   4) “What to know as TikTok resumes service following Trump's statement on delaying the ban,” NBC News

   5) “The Supreme Court upheld the TikTok ban. Here's what happens now,” Los Angeles Times