Ciara Celeste| Reporter
On Facebook, you’ll see more family, relatives, and your local community. On Instagram, you’ll see more professional videos and photoshoots. But on TikTok, you could be more relaxed, with no editing—just venting freely with less judgment.
So, the ban really shook people up. But the ban only affected people in America, so other countries continued to use the app. Some influencers even started revealing deep, dark secrets on the last day of the ban, according to YouTuber The Unpopular Party. The platform went dark for 170 million Americans due to the federal ban. When any viewers tried to access the app, they were met with a message saying it was no longer available in the United States.
Americans were sad about the disappearance of the app but even more upset to see the editing app CapCut and Lemon8 unavailable as well, since they are all owned by parent company ByteDance. ByteDance was given the opportunity to sell the app by Sunday, January 19, or the U.S. would ban it entirely, according to PBS.org. It was stated that Trump wanted 50 percent ownership of TikTok.
One of the problems was that TikTok was using its platform in the United States without giving the U.S. any profit. Another issue was that “ByteDance had to cut ties with the platform’s U.S. operations due to national security concerns posed by the app’s Chinese roots,” PBS.org reported.
The app was not available to Americans for 14 hours—14 long hours of trying to find another app to boost our dopamine levels. And then, the dark light brightened, and the app was brought back to us. Americans were surprised, confused, but joyful to have the app back.
Viewers felt their First Amendment rights were violated. Many people use this app to share their opinions, rant, and inform others on various topics. TikTok has given music artists a platform to go viral, served as an educational tool, and provided an outlet for fun and relaxation. We all shall stay tuned and hope for longevity within this app.
