As a result of “concerns that the Chinese Government (ByteDance) could manipulate content and gain access to sensitive user data through the app,” TikTok made its case before the Supreme Court challenging the decision ahead of the expected ban on Jan. 19, 2025. According to The New York Times, ByteDance prompted Congress to pass legislation that would ban the social media platform unless it was sold to a government-approved buyer. The ban would take away TikTok from app stores operated by Google and Apple.
On Jan. 17, the Supreme Court ruled that TikTok would not be distributed, maintained or updated in the United States. The Act’s enactment would take effect 270 days after Jan. 19, 2025.
Principal Jeremy Christian enjoys going on TikTok.
“I think TikTok has excellent benefits, especially for people who want to learn new skills and be motivated to do new things, [and] I have used TikTok, personally, as I have other ventures, opportunities, and things I’m involved in outside of me being a principal,” Christian said.
Christian promotes Niles West through one social media platform, which is not TikTok.
“The only app I typically use to promote all things West is Instagram. Instagram is where we officially promote and encourage students to follow,” Christian said.
The app was “banned” hours before the set date, Saturday, Jan. 18. However, on Sunday, Jan. 19, TikTok posted a pop-up message for all its users stating, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
Donald Trump might not be able to save the app long-term, but early Sunday he vowed to give ByteDance more time to make a sale that would satisfy the law.
If TikTok were to be banned in the near future, many students would be upset with this result.
“When TikTok gets banned I’m gonna be sad because everyone’s been using it for years now and it’s been our main platform for sharing life and communicating. But I feel like we’re always gonna find a new app to move to,” junior Nikie Suryadi said.
Many students use TikTok regularly and would be upset to see the app go.
“Personally, no, I don’t think TikTok should get banned. I am on TikTok daily. I would say I am on TikTok for two to three hours a day,” senior Marissa Zomaya said.
With the first initial TikTok “ban,” many students moved to the app Xiaohongshu, more generally known as Rednote—an endless scroll of algorithms.
“If TikTok gets banned I am going to be going to Rednote. From what I’ve seen on the app of how friendly Chinese people are, it’s confusing for our President, Trump, to say the Chinese are the big bad enemies. I mean I do think the banning of TikTok would be beneficial because we as humans might be able to see each other’s faces a bit better instead of just being on our phones all the time – less addiction. But otherwise, I do think that there really aren’t any benefits to the end of TikTok,” junior Sophie Fu said.
