The TikTok Ban has been postponed for another 75 days, due to an executive order issued by newly inaugurated President Donald Trump.
With this development to an already dramatic series of events, this leaves the question still up in the air; what will happen to TikTok?
The TikTok ban was unanimously held up by the Supreme Court on Friday, January 17, meaning that the ban would go into effect on Sunday, January 19. The app went “dark” for American users around 10:45 p.m., with a message from TikTok themselves appearing after opening up the app. The message said, “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. 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!”
It only took one day before the app came back online for U.S. users, with Trump pushing the ban back for another 75 days. He also posted on Truth Social that “I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark!”, and that any company that kept TikTok online in the U.S. between the ban being enacted and his inauguration would not be punished.
He also proposed “a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose.” TikTok is still however not available in app stores, so growth for the app in the US has been completely halted.
Brett Curry, a political science professor at Georgia Southern, described the situation as very uncertain. When talking about the future of TikTok, specifically about the implications of a sale, Curry said, “I don’t know what that ultimately is going to look like, and I don’t think anybody really does.”
With the app staying alive for at least a few more months, the future for the app looks a slight bit brighter for now. It won’t be clear what will happen next, but for now people can enjoy the app they thought they lost and watch as events unfold before them.
