By Rieley McDonnell, Staff Writer

The TikTok ban is hiding under the facade of national security, but that is not the whole story – this ban will make a larger negative impact than positive. Last Friday, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a law that would ban the popular app TikTok. This law, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act bans TikTok in the US unless control of the app is divested to a US operated company.

TikTok has become a home for marginalized communities seeking to express diverse opinions, political and social discontent and so much more. This app has become people’s livelihood and has become a second family for some people.

Taking this platform away means taking a public sphere away from the people. Taking this app means taking away a source of income from people who need it to live. Taking this app means taking away communities from people who rely on them.

TikTok has been a place where information that may not have been shared by traditional media outlets are shared. For example, when fighting between Israel and Hamas escalated in Oct. 2023, TikTok became a place where people could get different angles on the situation – specifically the human angle.

People who lived in Gaza would post videos to TikTok pleading for people to help them by watching the video so they could make money off of it. These videos helped shine light on the truly horrible conditions they were experiencing from the war and made it easier for them to get in contact with people outside of Gaza.

As of this past Saturday around 11 p.m. EST, when the TikTok app was opened it displayed a message saying, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now” and explaining the circumstance of the ban and that TikTok was working with President-Elect Trump to work on a solution to get the app unbanned. 

It does appear odd that President Trump wanted to unban TikTok as he tried to get the app banned, unsuccessfully, in Aug. 2020. This turn against a ban could be a bid to rehab his public appearance as he has become the “person who saved TikTok.” This is just speculation, but seems plausible when looking at past comments he has made on different topics to try and sway public opinion towards him.

As of last Sunday, TikTok is back online, however it is not yet back on the app store. It came back because President Trump said that he would stall the ban for a 90-day delay with an executive order. In the order he would guarantee no penalty to companies that allow TikTok to run. 

TikTok is not unbanned, as the law allowing the ban is still ruled constitutional however the ban has been kicked down the road. The app is running in limbo so all the negative effects of the ban loom above. 

It all feels like political theater at the expense of the American public. The app was “banned” for around 12 hours and then, miraculously, it was back up “thanks to President Trump.” He is now the person who “saved” TikTok, even though he was one of the first people to try and get the app banned in 2020. 

All the clamor around the ban feels like it was for nothing. All the stress feels useless. All the energy, worthless. TikTok lives another day… well, another 90 days. All the negative impacts of the ban are pushed down the road, the potential harm to people’s incomes, the loss of a public sphere and the loss of communities are future problems. 

Maybe President Trump saw how people were reacting to the ban and backpedaled. The public just cannot know. The apathy is setting in. Does the government really care about national security if President Trump can just put a stay on the ban? This ban does not feel like it was about national security if it can be delayed so simply. 

For now, the app is up. Everyone can go back to doom scrolling. However, the future is still murky, the ban looms above and the American public may have to go through this all again in a few months.