TikTok Is On The Clock: Everything You Need To Know About The US TikTok Ban by Talia Cherun

An image depicting the message US users received on January 19th, 2025, during the brief TikTok ban. (Source: Angelica Cooper, CBC News)

Tiktok. The short-form content app that has captured the attention of more than 170 million Americans since 2017. With such widespread popularity, it came as a horrific shock to many when the US Supreme Court unanimously upheld the federal law banning TikTok from American users on January 19th, 2025. 

The law, entitled the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” prohibits companies within the United States from operating or maintaining TikTok while the application is under Chinese control. Currently, TikTok is under the ownership of Chinese company ByteDance Ltd.

Many popular TikTok users shed tears over the app’s departure, thanking fans and followers for supporting their social media journeys, while others shared personal secrets with the internet as a final act before the app went dark. These users may have felt quite silly, however, when just 12 hours later the ban was lifted, and Americans returned to TikTok. So, what happened in those few dark hours? Is TikTok back for good? And what does Donald Trump have to do with all of this? I will attempt to outline the facts for you below.

The Law

The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” defines two means through which an application is subject to being banned:

1. Any association with ByteDance Ltd. or TikTok.

2. The application in question must be both controlled by a foreign adversary and deemed by the US President as a threat to national security.

The limitations outlined by this Act are set to go into effect 270 days following an application’s designation as foreign adversary-controlled. So, in TikTok’s case, the bill was passed in April of 2024, making January 19th, 2025 the official date of enactment for the TikTok ban.

However, the Act exempts applications from banishment under the condition that they divest to an American-owned company. This means that if an American-owned company were to buy TikTok from ByteDance, there would be no precedent to ban the app because it would no longer be controlled by a country deemed a foreign adversary. 

ByteDance Ltd., TikTok Inc., and two sets of creator petitioners argued that this Act violated the US Constitution's First Amendment, the right to free speech, particularly in areas of expression through content generation. They claimed that the 270-day window was not long enough for the company to divest to an American owner, and that the Act essentially served as a means to ban TikTok altogether. After much deliberation, however, the Act was ultimately deemed constitutional in the interest of protecting national security against Chinese data collection. 

The President is able to grant a one-time 90-day extension to the designation prohibition date if they are able to prove to Congress that progress towards a qualified divestiture is being made. So, when users were welcomed back to TikTok with a message reading: “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”, it likely means that Trump signed the executive order extending the TikTok ban while attempting to form a deal between ByteDance and an American company.

A Timeline

• November 2017 - TikTok, previously known as Musical.ly, was bought and rebranded by Chinese company ByteDance Ltd.

• August 2020 - US President Donald Trump issued an executive order demanding TikTok divest from ByteDance.

• March 2024 - The House of Representatives passed a bill requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US company or else undergo a federal ban. 

• April 2024 - The Senate then forwarded the bill to former president Joe Biden, who signed it in The Supreme Court unanimously found that a law banning TikTok does not violate the US Constitution’s First Amendment and thus upheld the ban

• January 18, 2025 - Tiktok was restricted for US users hours before the ban was set to go into effect

• January 19, 2025 - Trump announces that he signed a 75-day extension of the ban while he attempts to form a deal between ByteDance and an American company

So, this means that the federal TikTok ban has been in the works for longer than you may have suspected. It also means that Donald Trump, who initially took action against TikTok, now has cause to try to “save” it. This has raised speculation about what Trump’s intentions may be, and what the implications are for the future of TikTok in America. So, what’s next? And what exactly does this act mean?

The Implications

So, what does this mean? Newly inaugurated for his second term in office, it has been speculated that President Donald Trump resurrected TikTok as a way to incur support from a younger demographic of Americans. This is ironic, however, considering Trump was a major proponent banning the app in the first place. Now that he’s back in office, there is a new political aspect to Trump’s actions, as successfully forming a deal between ByteDance and an American company would serve as a positive step in Chinese-American relations.

Interestingly, even though TikTok is still accessible to those who have already downloaded the app, it cannot be found in either the US Apple or Google app stores. Although neither company has stated the reasoning for this, legal experts believe that this is to protect themselves from liability in then case that Trump reverses his actions, and decides to enforce the ban. Moreover, the US statute of limitations is five years long. This means that even after Trump’s term in office comes to an end, the next US President will still able to enforce the ban, and enact consequences to those who deviate from the law. So, until a deal is finalized and TikTok is back for good, it would be risky for major companies such as Apple and Google to restore access to TikTok. 

So, that brings us to now. Is TikTok back for good? The answer is uncertain. While TikTok remains accessible to existing users, the situation is far from resolved. The 75-day extension provides a brief window for negotiations to secure TikTok’s future under American ownership, however, political motives, public sentiment, and international relations will likely continue to play a role in TikTok’s uncertain status. One thing is clear: the clock is still ticking for TikTok in the United States.

Sources

24-656 Tiktok Inc. v. Garland (01/17/2025). Supreme Court of the United States. (2025, January 17). https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-656_ca7d.pdf

Cooper, A. (2025, January 20). TikTok was banned in the United States. but now it’s back. how come? CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/tiktok-was-banned-in-the-united-states-but-now-its-back-how-come

Durkee, A. (2025). TikTok still off app stores as Trump freezes ban-here’s what to know. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/01/21/tiktok-still-off-app-stores-as-trump-freezes-ban-heres-what-to-know/

Hamilton, D. (2025). How TikTok grew from a fun app for teens into a potential national security threat. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-timeline-ban-biden-india-d3219a32de913f8083612e71ecf1f428

Yilek, C. (2025, January 19). Why is TikTok banned? what’s behind the law that shuttered the App. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-is-tiktok-being-banned-supreme-court-congress/