Despite changing political landscapes and online trends over the past years, it feels like the same conversation has surfaced over and over again: TikTok is getting banned. With the constant threat looming and no action ever being taken, millions of users never imagined a day where this nightmare could become a reality. But, on Jan. 19 TikTok was shut down in the U.S. for roughly 15 hours before being restored. There’s no doubt that something strange took effect the night TikTok went dark, and users’ anger and confusion about it reflects the almost need for Tiktok to be banned.
At around 9 p.m. on that fateful Saturday, phone screens across the country were met with what would be the first message of the night. A pop-up, which interrupted scrolling, read, “We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable. We’re working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.” Shortly after, the app became unusable, when another message was displayed informing users that efforts were being made to reinstate the app in collaboration with President Trump.
As the For You Page slowly came to a halt, the strange and off-putting messages seemed dystopian, as the government was revoking a massive platform that serves as a method of communication for many Americans. The feelings continued later the next day when the app made a miraculous return. A welcome notice greeted users which credited President Trump for reviving the app. While many were simply grateful for the privilege to scroll again, some users were rubbed the wrong way by the short-lived “ban,” which felt to them like an obvious political stunt.
The return of the app brought about plenty of other speculations and conspiracies by users as they questioned “who really owns it now?” Between TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew removing the title of CEO from his bio and his attendance at President Trump’s inauguration the next day, it feels as though Americans are being kept in the dark about what is really going on. Users are assuming that agreements were made between Chew and Trump for TikTok to be in the hands of the U.S. government now. These theories might not be too far off considering the app has definitely felt different since its return. The algorithm is undeniably different from what it was before. Now, if you interact with one video or watch it fully through, you can expect the next six videos on your feed to be about the same topic. The algorithm is much more sensitive and intense as, before you even realize it, you’ll be stuck watching dozens of videos about one or two of your interests.
Users have also been calling out the lack of world news and other important topics which used to flood their FYP everyday and are now few and far between. It seems as though the app is filtered and the informative videos which may have been consistent prior to the ban are now scarce. While there is no confirmation that TikTok has been filtering the news, a collective agreement from users is concerning. Users have also reported a lack of ad’s which had once had a noticeably massive presence in the app.
Much of the original motive for banning the app in the first place was security concerns, but after seeing users’ reactions to not having endless scrolling in the palm of their hand, Americans should be concerned about more than just international safety. Millions of people went into withdrawal all at once played, and the behavior exhibited was terrifying to say the least. People flocked to Instagram reels to satisfy their needs and spam clicked the TikTok app out of habit, despite being met with disappointment every time. Many users even took it as far as downloading and giving their information to an actual Chinese-owned app out of spite. As a majority of the country experienced literal withdrawals from TikTok, it became very clear that teenagers are severely hooked and simply cannot live without the app. This is a serious problem that the government inadvertently revealed when banning the app but has no plans to address.
Nevertheless, TikTok is back for now, and as theories and speculations run rampant, no one really knows what its long-term fate will be. But it is clear that the app has changed, probably for the worse, and after seeing the public response to its short absence and potential alterations, maybe a permanent ban was needed after all.
Photo Credits: “TikTok II” By Focal Foto is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.