written BY: GUS NATIONS IV, guest writer

As if 2020 needed more strife, the talk of the social media town lately has been whether President Trump will ban the popular app TikTok.

After allegations surfaced of the Chinese-based app skewing COVID-19-related information during the surge of the virus in the United States, along with allegations of data farming users, President Trump quickly jumped on the idea of completely banning the app across the U.S.

This prospect sent the social media community into a virtual tizzy with popular creators lobbying for the app to remain accessible to those in the United States.

In the days that followed this announcement, Microsoft and more recently, Walmart, entered talks about potentially purchasing the company and moving it to a domestic location.

On the one hand, the false information given by the app at the beginning of the pandemic undoubtedly played a role in downplaying the effects of the virus, creating a bit of a devil-may-care attitude among U.S. citizens.

This, along with the data farming practices of the company, paints a less than optimistic picture about the status of the app in the U.S.

Despite this, the app’s popularity continues to grow, with more than 500 million users worldwide, and 80 million of those users in the U.S. TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, will certainly take a massive blow if the app is banned in the U.S. The app has provided instant fame to many people and even allowed certain popular users to earn massive amounts of wealth from sponsored videos.

Because of the apps popularity and opportunity to gain revenue, it seems like completely banning the app’s in the U.S. would be a massive waste.

Microsoft and the president will move forward in negotiations to purchase TikTok and its faithful users will be satisfied to know that their precious dances are here to stay.

Many content creators on Tiktok have subsequently been vocal this summer about the apps potential banning and sale.

Nick Tangorra, a 22-year-old singer song writer with 1.2 million followers on the platform is among those adament that the app is doing everything correctly.

Tiktok employees have accordingly backed content creators, assuring that they will do all they can to keep the app alive.

“We are rediterating that we are committed to their long-term success on TikTok, so they can continue to be their creative selves,” said Kudzi Chikumbu, Tiktoks director of creative community.

From the uproar that has come from banning the app, there is no doubt that Tiktok will maintain its popularity and remain on the app store for many years to come.