The prospect of a U.S. ban on TikTok has left both influencers and users in a state of uncertainty throughout the extended discussions among lawmakers and judicial authorities concerning the app’s viability. This moment has become a reality, but the future of TikTok remains ambiguous as challenges continue to arise.
Last Friday, a unanimous verdict from the Supreme Court concluded a significant legal confrontation that weighed national security issues against free speech rights. TikTok, along with its parent company ByteDance and users reliant on the platform for various purposes, posited that the ruling infringed upon First Amendment rights. Conversely, the Biden administration aimed to demonstrate that ByteDance’s ownership posed an unacceptable risk.
In a swift development, TikTok was pulled from major app stores by Saturday, just hours ahead of a federal prohibition set to commence. With Trump poised to reclaim the White House a day after the ban is meant to take effect, one of his advisers remarked that the upcoming administration would take steps to prevent TikTok from disappearing completely. The specifics of these potential measures—and whether they would endure legal tests—still remain unresolved as of Saturday.
Exploring how TikTok became a global sensation reveals a complex interplay of cultural influence and political turmoil. TikTok emerged as a prominent app among over 100 developed by ByteDance, a technology firm established in 2012 by Zhang Yiming in Beijing. The company released Douyin, a short-form video app for the Chinese market in 2016, followed by its international counterpart, TikTok. Additionally, ByteDance acquired Musical.ly, a U.S. lip-syncing service, integrating it into TikTok while keeping it distinct from Douyin.
Almost immediately, TikTok found immense success in the United States and other countries, marking a significant breakthrough for a Chinese platform in Western markets. Setting itself apart from other social media platforms, TikTok focused on offering personalized content rather than fostering connections among users. Its lighthearted videos and creative music clips created an inviting atmosphere online, attracting a broad audience and catapulting artists like Lil Nas X into the limelight.
The app’s popularity surged during the COVID-19 shutdowns, with its dances and challenges becoming viral sensations. To counter TikTok’s rapid ascent, competitors like Instagram and YouTube launched their own versions of short-form video tools, Reels and Shorts, respectively. At that juncture, TikTok had firmly established itself as a dominant platform in the social media landscape.
However, with success came criticism. U.S. officials raised alarms about the app’s Chinese origins, citing potential data access by the government under Chinese laws. Concerns also swirled around the proprietary algorithm that dictates user experiences on the app. During his presidency, Trump attempted to ban TikTok and another Chinese messaging service, WeChat, through executive orders in 2020, which later faced legal challenges. India also imposed a ban on TikTok and several other Chinese apps that same year following a deadly border conflict with China.
In 2021, the Biden administration rescinded Trump’s executive bans but continued a national security assessment of TikTok under the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). From early 2021 until mid-2022, TikTok representatives engaged in earnest negotiations with the Biden administration regarding the app’s status in the U.S. This culminated in a draft security agreement that sought to ensure data protection and transparency. Despite these efforts, substantive talks eventually ceased, although sporadic meetings continued.
The proposed agreement included pathways for security evaluations of TikTok’s U.S. operations and measures for restricting Chinese access to American user data. TikTok announced that it had already begun implementing elements of this arrangement, notably routing U.S. data through servers managed by Oracle. In its legal endeavor against the “sell-or-ban” law, TikTok indicated it had invested over $2 billion into initiatives under “Project Texas.”
Nevertheless, the Justice Department and other officials contended that TikTok’s proposal did not sufficiently separate its U.S. operations from the parent company in China. They expressed concerns about the obfuscation surrounding the algorithm and the complexities involved in ensuring compliance with the proposed measures. By February 2023, the White House ordered the removal of TikTok from government devices, joining a number of other countries in similar actions.
In March of that same year, TikTok CEO Shou Chew faced intense questioning from Congress as he tried to address anxieties about the platform’s safety and presence amid geopolitical tensions. By September 2023, TikTok representatives had their final discussions with CFIUS, with criticism of the platform intensifying among Congressional Republicans, who accused it of promoting content biased against Israel—allegations that TikTok denied vehemently.
With renewed legislative efforts in Congress to ban TikTok gaining momentum in early 2023, increasing bipartisan support emerged around apprehensions about the app’s potential to invade privacy and manipulate users. The legislation confirmed by the Supreme Court was passed as part of a critical $95 billion aid package for Ukraine and Israel, signed into law swiftly by President Biden. Following this, TikTok and a group of creators filed a lawsuit challenging the statute.
In early December, a lower court upheld the law that mandated ByteDance either sell TikTok or face an outright ban, allowing a nine-month compliance window with the possibility of a three-month extension if negotiations were ongoing. The timing of the deadline, just before Trump’s inauguration, complicated matters, as only the sitting president could grant a short reprieve contingent upon an active sale effort.
As a result, TikTok users in the U.S. found themselves unable to access the app on the evening of January 18—hours before the impending prohibition was to take effect. The platform’s app disappeared from major app stores, while its website declared that TikTok was no longer available to users.
