TikTok was banned, except that ban only lasted hours. Taking effect on January 20th, 2025, TikTok was removed from the app store and made unavailable to access. However, this did not even last a day as an executive order signed by President Donald Trump restored TikTok to the app store and made it available again to access.
The future of TikTok, however, is still quite murky. The executive order signed by President Trump extends the deadline for TikTok’s ban by a mere 75 days unless it is sold to an American company. This move by Trump has signaled a remarkable shift away from his initial position on a TikTok ban in 2020 when he attempted to sign executive orders to ban the Chinese app that were later struck down in courts. Trump has changed his tune on TikTok however, after using it to great effect in his victorious 2024 Presidential Election Campaign. This position held by Trump on TikTok goes against many members of his own party, including the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton. Cotton and many other congressional Republicans support the ban and wish to see it upheld. Trump’s position on TikTok is also at odds with that of the Supreme Court, of which Justices Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barret, and Brett Kavanaugh are all Trump appointees. Oddly enough, China’s best hope for TikTok to stay active in the USA without selling off its assets would be cooperation from congressional Democrats and President Trump, two sides which historically have not gotten along quite well. Senate Minority Leader New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey have both expressed interest in keeping TikTok available to the general public. A combined effort by Democrats and Trump could potentially be enough to keep TikTok available.
Another path for China would of course be for it to sell its holdings in TikTok to an American buyer. Current head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and CEO of Tesla Elon Musk has been rumoured as a potential buyer. Considering Musk already owns X formerly known as Twitter he could face lawsuits pertaining that he would control a monopoly in the social media business. A more likely buyer, or rather group of buyers, is one led by former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers Frank McCourt. McCourt however would not be able to afford TikTok by himself and thus is seeking the help of investors in his pursuit of TikTok. The most notable of these potential financial backers is Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, most known for his role as a Shark in Shark Tank. If this group of investors is able to buy TikTok, the potential ban would be lifted by the US government as it is only in place out of security concerns pertaining to TikTok’s Chinese ownership. The Chinese government could sneakily steal the data from American citizens and possibly use this data to potentially even hack the phones and devices of users. The Chinese government has also been accused by the US government of spreading pro Communist propaganda and has even been accused of intentionally spreading misinformation on TikTok encouraging polarization of the recent 2024 Presidential Election thus attempting to divide the American people against one another. With American ownership, none of the concerns would be kept as American owners would be subject to our laws and would have a tougher time sneaking around our laws like the Chinese do.
The jury is still out on the future of TikTok in the USA. The two best hopes for those who wish to not see TikTok banned are that an American will buy it, or the extraordinarily unlikely event that congressional Democrats and President Trump cooperate and somehow overturn the potential ban. Regardless, a ban of TikTok could open the way for the US government to ban other foreign owned apps that are potentially stealing Americans data. If this saga of TikTok has taught us anything, it should be that people need to be careful of what they are downloading, for their data could easily be stolen if they download the wrong platform.
