TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has raised fears amongst our nation’s congressmen. Many in Congress worry that TikTok could pose a risk to America’s national security, compromising the privacy of American users. This worry led Congress to propose a ban on TikTok unless ByteDance sells the platform to an American-owned company. However, ByteDance resisted selling, and the issue eventually reached the Supreme Court. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court upheld the ban on TikTok, making it unavailable for download by American users and removing it from the Apple Store. This ban was set to take effect on Jan. 19, 2025.

On the night of Jan. 18, TikTok experienced an outage that sent waves of panic across the United States. As sophomore Bailey Hall stated, “I was really upset.” The app was back online in less than 24 hours. When President Donald Trump took office, he signed an executive order extending the deadline for TikTok’s ban by 75 days, allowing time for an American company to purchase the app. People expressed delight when the app came back up, but some still expressed concerns about the safety of TikTok. “I am glad [Trump] is able to keep it up and running, but I don’t think security should be compromised for TikTok to be up,” stated senior Michael McAuliffe.

At this point, the fate of TikTok is in the hands of American buyers. One major American company that is trying to purchase TikTok is Oracle. While the app has returned to the Apple store, the future of TikTok remains uncertain.