Is TikTok being banned? This question is currently being asked by millions of Americans in the U.S. Another question is, why just Americans?

The Tik Tok ban didn’t come out of nowhere, the threat of it being banned has constantly been circulated. In 2020, President Trump first proposed the Tik Tok ban, because he saw it as a national security threat. In August, he signed an executive order instructing that the parent company, ByteDance divest from the app, however the order was blocked by a court injunction in September and was later reversed by the Biden administration in 2021.

On April 24, 2024, President Biden signed legislation for the ban. According to CNN Business, “The bill that Biden signed gives TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, 270 days to sell TikTok. Failure to do so would lead to significant consequences: TikTok would be prohibited from US app stores and from ‘internet hosting services’ that support it.”

On Sunday, January 18, 2025, at around 7 p.m. PST, TikTok went dark for millions of users in the U.S. When you would open the app you were met with a message that read, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now,” it was then followed by, “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 returns in office.”

TikTok wasn’t the only app banned on January 19, Lemon8, CapCut − Video Editor, and Marvel Snap were also affected by the ban, because they have ties with the China-based parent company, ByteDance.

Days before the ban, TikTok users began a protest by moving to the app ​​Rednote, or Xiaohongshu, which means “Little Red Book”, the actual name of the app. Rednote is another Chinese app that some describe as a mix of TikTok and Pinterest.

Is TikTok banned right now? The correct answer is yes, TikTok is currently banned in the U.S with the Apple App Store and Google Play Store removing it from their respective stores. However on the morning of January 19, TikTok was somehow usable for those who didn’t delete it. This is because of president Trump.

According to CNN Business, “Early on Sunday, Trump said he would issue an executive order following his inauguration on Monday to delay enforcement of the divest-or-ban law. And within hours, access to TikTok’s app and webpage began to return for US users.” When you would open the app once again you were greeted with a short message that read, “Welcome back! Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”

Though this is a win for TikTok users, it could be short-lived as President Trump only granted TikTok 75 more days to sell to an American company. Lots of TikTok users speculate that they will sell the app to Meta, which is owned by Mark Zuckerburg, operates similar apps to TikTok such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

No one fully knows what the future holds for TikTok but most can assume that it will eventually be sold to a U.S.-based company. For now, users that still have the app installed can fully use the app, and the TikTok community is alive and well.