From political battles to TV show reviews and puppy videos to cooking tutorials, one app truly has it all. TikTok, the most downloaded app of 2024 worldwide, is home to about 1.04 billion monthly users, 170 million of those users are American according to eMarketer estimates.
Like any other social media app, TikTok’s creators face challenges getting the app through to the world. Some of those challenges include a new ban threat in America about every year, 2025 included.
“Honestly, I thought it was another fake rumor,” said senior Annie Motley, a frequent TikTok user. “Like – hasn’t this happened before?”
Other students had a similar reaction to Motley and a lot of students wrote the ban off as another empty threat.
Junior Makenzie Tarr said she didn’t think much of it when she heard about the potential ban online. She said she questioned its legitimacy because of previous attempts to remove TikTok from app stores.
“I kind of just rolled my eyes and scrolled, to be honest.”
In 2020, a rumor circulated that TikTok would be banned, causing more rumors to stem from the threat in the years to come.
Those were proven to be rumors and baseless claims, but TikTok users are starting to worry.
According to CBS news, after a hearing on Dec. 6, 2024, a federal appeals court upheld a law stating TikTok would need to be sold to a different company by Jan. 19, 2025.
The court stated the concern for American safety is valid, since Chinese national security requires certain organizations to cooperate with the gathering of information, such as TikTok with users’ personal information from their accounts.
“If [the U.S. government] truly believe that this app is causing this significant amount of turmoil in our lives, then I guess it is fair,” said Tarr.
Other students disagree with the overall decision to ban TikTok. Junior Logan Heepke said the decision should really be left up to the individual.
The Supreme Court said they will be hearing arguments against the ban on Jan. 10, and TikTok users are starting to understand the gravity of the situation.
“The closer we get to [Jan. 19], the more I’m starting to think it might be real this time,” said Heepke.
A few attempts were made to stop or even postpone the ban. President Elect Donald Trump has tried to postpone the ban until he is in office so he may have a validated opinion on the matter according to AP News.
As of now, the Supreme Court has not upheld Trump’s request to postpone the ban.
In addition to Trump’s attempt to postpone the ban, many content creators have dedicated videos to educating others to stop the ban completely.
Heepke said the ban could have a neutral effect on students, assuming TikTok is banned on Jan. 19.
“I think taking away TikTok could affect students positively because they will be more focused on their studies,” he said. “But getting rid of TikTok can also prevent [students] from having another way to communicate with their peers.”
Motley said she doesn’t understand the fuss about TikTok going away.
“I don’t see how it affects the country in such a heavy sense. We have other platforms,” she said.
Tarr said she understands the potential fear and upset caused by the ban. She said for people who have had the app for such a long time, a piece of them would be missing.
Some users have posted about already planning their course of action, seeing as there are many content creators who make TikToks for a job and they may need to move onto a different app or career altogether, but Heepke said no other apps compare to TikTok popularity wise.
“People will disperse to other platforms like Instagram and YouTube,” said Heepke. “but I don’t think there is any current app that can compete with TikTok.”