American TikTok users were left in suspense as the frozen ban of the popular social media app was announced to last for another 90 days.
Due to parent company ByteDance refusing to sell TikTok to an American owner as ordered in a Supreme Court ruling last month, the ban took effect on Jan. 18 as the app disappeared from app stores.
But that wasn’t the end.
Just hours later, TikTok announced that President Trump brought the app temporarily back to the United States, thanking him graciously.
The fate of TikTok is now surrounded by uncertainty. So that brings up one pain-stakingly obvious question: What happens to the TikTok community?
“I don’t really have any other social media platforms,” junior Louis Choi said.
Each platform has a different community that creates different content. Switching platforms can sometimes lead to a culture shock for users.
Junior Freya Chikhalikar explained how her mother told her to delete TikTok after it was banned. But while she forgot to do so, her sister deleted the app.
“[My sister has moved] to Instagram reels,” Chikhalikar said. “She says it’s really boring.”
Junior Racheal Osicka confirmed this. As another TikTok user who has fled to Instagram, she expressed she did not appreciate a good portion of videos recommended in her feed.
Simply put, TikTok was set up to encompass a wide range of users.
“[Other platforms] are more graphic,” senior Miguel Gomez said. “TikTok has guidelines, and Twitter and Reddit don’t.”
Not only did TikTok provide a way to watch videos and message friends, it also had something that many other platforms didn’t: TikTok shop. This shop allows creators and influencers to sell their products.
“On TikTok people were a lot more open as in content creation. [There] were really creative ideas,” freshman Saanvi Mallajosyula said. “Instagram and other socials it’s like the same thing again and again.”
While it seems that a majority of TikTok users have switched to Instagram, there are some who have made their way to the Chinese app RedNote.
Due to the fact that TikTok was being banned because of national security concerns, it appears the ban may have backfired.
“It was an interesting phenomenon to see people go from TikTok, which was banned because of Chinese relation, directly to an app which directly speaks in Mandarin,” junior Adam Frederick said.
But when TikTok’s “Welcome back” notification chimed throughout millions of phones the morning of Jan. 20, there was admittingly something a bit off.
The notification read, “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 the things you love on TikTok.”
The way the message was phrased to describe President Trump as the app’s savior didn’t escape the knowing eyes of its users.
“I’ve seen some videos on it being propaganda to like him,” sophomore Jacqueline Young said.
One of the main reasons TikTok was banned in the first place was to prevent the company and government from influencing the American market. Bringing the reelected president as a “savior” of the app has disconcerted members of the opposing political party.
“I don’t know if Trump brought it back,” Frederick said. “They said he did, but I think they were kind of sucking up because he wants to protect it now.”
Yet TikTok users still hope to keep the app in the United States.
“When it was banned, I saw it affect a lot of my friends because it was kind of their form of relaxation,” Mallajosyula said. “They would scroll a little or they would talk to someone on TikTok. I could see that it affected people around me in a negative manner.”
Whether the ban would have the desired effect of protecting national security in the first place was also in question.
“I don’t think [the ban] is that worth it,” Young said. “I don’t think being this dramatic about it is the answer.”
Though there might not be one solution, the Supreme Court’s coming decision to reconsider the ban will be revealed at the end of TikTok’s 90-day extension.
TikTok ban shocks users
More than 170 million accounts were restricted after app shut down on Jan. 18
Korn Ravipaty, Staff Writer
February 12, 2025
TikTok’s brief ban in the United States effected millions of users all over the country. The app can no longer be downloaded from the App Store.
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![Korn Ravipaty](https://www.thecalifornianpaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Olivia-Mugs-72-600x400.jpg)
Korn Ravipaty, Staff Writer
Going from a newspaper-sword wielder to a writer herself (who will still hit people over the head with the papers), junior staff writer Korn is excited to start off the year being a part of the Californian. This Minecraft fan doesn’t have one particular talent, but prefers trying anything that seems remotely interesting.. like juggling! She’s also obsessed with food, and will take any suggestions that people give her. Unless it’s spicy. This is a spice free zone.
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Nidhi Sudheendra, Opinions Editor
Senior Nidhi Sudheendra first joined The Californian in her junior year. She originally wanted to be part of the social media team, but after writing one article for the opinions section, she realized she liked being able to do what she does best: argue. Since then, she has gone on to become the Opinions editor. In her free time, she likes to read, go on runs, and hang out with friends. She looks forward to fawning over the best editor-in-chief ever, Ylin Zhu