On Sunday, January 19, 2025, many American teenagers had to find a new source of entertainment to add to their daily routines, at least momentarily.
TikTok, one of the most used apps in America, was set to be banned because of the risk that the platform poses to the United States’ national security. On December 30, 2022, the NoTikTok on Government Devices Act was signed by President Joe Biden. However, it did not immediately take effect.
When the app was officially shut down on Saturday, many Windsor students weren’t very happy about it.
Since TikTok had become such a popular platform, many small businesses had become dependent on it for their products. “Because of TikTok getting banned, a lot of small businesses are losing their free marketing,” freshman Carson Mosley said.
This would not only affect the amount of money being made to keep their business running, it would also affect the people purchasing items from the businesses.
Small businesses weren’t the only people losing income from this ban. Many popular influencers would also start to see their assets plummet. Freshman Haleigh Rutledge said, “Many Influencers are losing most of their income due to the ban.”
So many people theorized about what would happen when this app would slowly disappear off the charts of top used apps. Many even went so far as to beg high-end influencers, such as Mr. Beast, to purchase the app to keep it in function.
“I’m hoping the rumors are true, and that Mr. Beast purchases the app so we are all able to keep the app that fills most of our lives,” freshman Kara Patterson said.
Mr. Beast purchasing the app was just one of the many rumors started by fans of the app. There were also rumors that Multi-Millionaire, Kevin O’Leary, offered $20 billion dollars in cash for the app in return. After there had been rumors about the app being purchased by multiple people, rumors were started that the app would not be going dark. It was rumored that President Joe Biden would not be enforcing the ban and that its fate would be left in President Donald Trump’s hands; however, another rumor was that the app would ‘go dark’ until the president who signed the law acted against it.
Because users of the app were so confused about what would happen to the app, they started the search for an alternative. The more popular alternatives would be to switch to places such as RedNote, Instagram Reels, SnapChat Reels, Lemon8, and Likee.
On Saturday, January 18, 2025, around 9:30 p.m. central time, the app went dark. However, this wasn’t the only surprise that came from the app. At around 11:30 a.m central time, the app came back to life. Everything had been restored to normal. Everyone’s reposts, drafts, liked videos, saved videos, saved sounds, everything had been untouched.
On Monday, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump immediately signed an executive order that delayed the ban for 75 days in order to give the company the ability to sell the company to a US buyer. It remains to be seen what will happen after the 75 days.
“I really hope something is worked out before the ban takes effect again,” sophomore Mia Womack said.
