The month of December is usually filled with stressed discussions about final grades, the endless assessments, and winter break plans. However, this December was different; the possibility of a TikTok ban lingered in conversations, with many people wondering whether the Supreme Court would follow through with the ban on Jan. 19. However, TikTok unexpectedly went dark a day earlier than anticipated.
According to an article by CNN, on Jan. 18 TikTok went offline to users in the U.S. cutting off 170 million Americans from accessing media. American users received the following message on their TikTok home screen: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”
PHS students expressed their shock about the swiftness of the ban.
“It made me feel kind of surprised because it got banned then taken back up so quickly,” freshman Robert Piniella said.
The TikTok ban lasted just fourteen hours, with the prior message being replaced with the following one: “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!”
Following his inauguration on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive action that delays the enforcement of a TikTok ban for 75 days, according to CNN. Therefore, the U.S. Department of Justice cannot enforce the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, a law signed by former President Joe Biden which prevents American companies from hosting or serving content for the Chinese-owned social media platform, such as TikTok, unless it sells itself to a buyer from the United States or one of its allies.
Though TikTok is now back online, American app stores no longer carry it, preventing people from downloading it.
In the short time while TikTok was offline, many users turned to other social media apps for entertainment, one of the most popular alternatives being Instagram.
“The app [most similar to TikTok] would probably be Instagram, just because it’s the closest to that kind of younger generation vibe,” junior Laurel Minor said.
Piniella said that he shifted over to watching Instagram reels during the TikTok ban.
Though many people mourned the loss of TikTok, some found a silver lining.
“I was a little sad at first, but was also kind of hopeful because it would give me more time to do my homework, [because I wouldn’t be so distracted by TikTok],” Minor said.
However, in the past few years, TikTok has become a core part of American society.
“[TikTok] kind of opened Gen Z to the world. Since we weren’t able to socialize in person, it kind of gave us a chance to socialize during COVID,” Minor said. “I feel like I can connect with people over TikTok.”
TPH’s next ACL will cover online addictions.
