The date is January 18, 2025. You, like many others, feared the moment the clock would strike 12. Maybe you found yourself lying in bed, pondering the inevitable–or perhaps you found yourself doom scrolling for what you thought would be the last time, the only light in the room, the artificial white glare of the phone screen. And, like promised, you woke up the next morning to find your saved videos inaccessible, your reserved audios unreachable, and your preferred content creators unwatchable.
On January 19, 2025, The United States Government vowed to ban TikTok services for American citizens to safeguard national security, yet the app still stands. Videos are unrestricted, and faith is restored; all seems to be back to normal. Or, perhaps not. After logging onto the TikTok app the minute it was restored, there stood a message that was strangely sinister.
“Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, Tiktok is back in the U.S.! You can continue to create, share, and discover all things you love on Tiktok.”
Upon reading the app’s message, I could not help but feel a little strange. I felt as though I had been robbed, and I knew something was missing, but could not figure out what—an abnormal emotion I can only describe as perplexed. One may recall the year 2020—although I understand many have decided to forget the time altogether—-when then (and now current) President Donald Trump announced his skepticism of the app, finding the application’s corporate ties to China a national security threat. Yet here we stand, five years later, and the man who vouched to destroy TikTok appears as its savior. Why is that?
Nobody can be entirely sure, though I am more concerned about the app’s longevity. Trump’s executive order only pledged to restore the app for a limited time before revisiting a possible ban in the United States. 75 days—roughly two months until the beloved app meets its final fate. In that time, what decisions will be made? Will TikTok ever leave? Why must it stay?
TikTok is a plentiful medium containing many facets of content for all audiences. Cooking videos, dancing, singing, edits; you want it, the app has it. In tandem with the media, however, exists a critical medium for the American population; the millions of small businesses and individuals who rely on TikTok to pay their bills. Around 7 million small businesses in America utilize the platform to drive sales and brand recognition. To lose such a resource would be devastating to those entrepreneurs, and consequently, the economy.
I speak of the economy, but perhaps the most important thing is that TikTok provides something integral to society: joy. I cannot recount the hundreds of times a video on the platform has made my friends and me laugh insatiably. Those laughs cannot be replicated, and if the app were to be permanently banned in the United States, we may never find another social media forum that provokes emotion and communication in the same way. Such a life sounds, to be candid, bleak.
Who desires a life void of joy, entertainment, laughs, and communication? I assume nobody, and yet here we are, stuck in an endless cycle of calling for bans on a foreign company simply because of its supposed and unproven ties to national security threats. I suggest the American government look inward, for many issues we face as a nation are more critical than edits and memes.
