An executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 allowed ByteDance, the Chinese tech company that owns TikTok, 75 more days to find a buyer, according to The Associated Press.
Both Congress and The Supreme Court upheld the ban amid concern of protecting users and their data from Chinese manipulation, according to AP News.
TikTok users lost access to the app on Jan. 19 for over 12 hours and were greeted with a message that said, “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
Students shared their concerns about the removal of TikTok in interviews with The Connection.
Jalil Byrd, an 18-year-old nursing major, said he had a TikTok following and it was difficult losing his platform temporarily.
“The way the CEO’s notification that popped up on the app mentioned Donald Trump by name, as opposed to his administration or the government itself, it seemed like a PR stunt in order to boost his ratings among the younger population,” Byrd said.
Byrd said he feels the TikTok ban is about government control rather than protecting the data of citizens.
“I’m very disheartened it [the government] can’t let another entity, foreign or within the nation bounds, be independent on its own without being involved in order to steal our data as opposed to just letting us be and having the space for ourselves,” Byrd said.
Calista Esguerra, a 20-year-old teaching education major, said she uses the app to make videos with her friends at concerts and anime conventions.
“Personally, I don’t really care about the ban because people are finding other apps to move to,” Esguerra said. “I saw people move to RedNote and I thought maybe I should do that.”
Even with TikTok available to users again during the extension period, Esguerra said she still doesn’t care as long as TikTok isn’t purchased by Elon Musk.
Eighteen-year-old history major Jenna Beckham has been a TikTok user for nine years and said she would be upset if the app was fully removed.
“It’s kind of my go-to if I want to learn about something because it’s so easy to search something up and see videos teaching you how to do it,” Beckham said.
Bechkham said she believes the removal has further political motivation behind it.
“Our data is being breached all the time through Meta,” Beckham said. “I think if it impacts national security, it’s not in an unprecedented way.”
Staff writer Barbie Sarente contributed to this story.