As screen times rise once again across the nation following President Trump’s reinstatement of an app beloved by all, one may ask: What would I be doing right now if not scrolling on TikTok? And for many Americans, that was a question they had to face.
Recently added back to the app market within the United States, TikTok, an app launched by the Chinese company ByteDance, had been facing criticism from the U.S. Government for being dangerous and threatening to American consumers, specifically concerning the app’s use of consumer data.
This unspecified use of data is the main concern for the government. But this is not the case of the general public. Most people were just upset on the main timesuck on their phone being unavailable–or worse–unable to be downloaded.
Funny enough, during the brief period of inactivity on TikTok’s end, millions of American users went to another Chinese app, Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote. This influx of users had popularized a hashtag known as “TikTokRefugees,” as users came daily to this newly ‘discovered’ app.
Students within Liberty’s own communities are worried about the path the government is taking, believing that they are worried about the wrong things. Roughly 80% of polled students reported that they were affected by the ban, retreating to Youtube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and Xiaohongshu.
When the 14-hour band ceased, users flooded back to the platform. Still unavailable to redownload or purchase, this ban did have an impact on a majority of Liberty students, including a variety of opinions on how this situation should be handled.
“It’s ironic that platforms like X have gone through such wild drastic changes in order to allow “freedom of speech” yet the government has to ban the one Gen Z focused media,” an anonymous Liberty student said.
Following this, TikTok’s presence back on the app store 27 days after its removal was a surprise from the American government as the previous presidency was adamant about it not being available to download. No longer penalizing companies for distributing their app, TikTok returned onto the Apple and Android app stores.
The main reason for TikTok’s removal consisted of companies being fined up to $5000 for having the app available to consumers. Without this, the app has made its way back into our lives.
However, ByteDance’s presence within the United States will be a key factor on whether the ban will cease. Time is running out to sell their assets within the United States, as the 75 day extension created by President Trump allowing TikTok to remain available is coming to an end.
