In 2025, TikTok finds itself once again in political crosshairs. Nearly 170 million users of TikTok are in the US. Yet, the US government cites security concerns and is working to ban it. On January 19, 2025, the day before Trump assumed office, the ban was supposed to take effect.
But after the ruling, which hasn’t been signed yet, China-based ByteDance failed to sell the app’s U.S. assets as required by law, and the TikTok app vanished in the US for 12 hours.
Up until that point, Trump issued two executive orders extending the ban on the app.
Five months after the start of a federal law that would have banned the popular short video app TikTok in the United States unless it broke with its Beijing-based owner, ByteDance, President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, June 19, 2025, adding more time to the app’s clock.
The company is granted a 90-day reprieve from the enforcement of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which was signed into law by former President Biden after being passed by Congress last year with bipartisan support. It was supposed to go into effect in January.
What Led to the Ban?
The U.S. government passed a law in 2024 requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either sell its American operations to a U.S.-based firm or face a nationwide ban.
Officials cite national security concerns, claiming that user data might be accessible to the Chinese government, a claim ByteDance has consistently denied.
What would happen if TikTok gets banned?
It doesn’t matter if you are an ordinary person using it for fun or a famous influencer living by earning on it.
Daily life activities, which could be affected by the ban:
- The silence of the scroll
For many people, it was not just an ordinary app.
For some, it was the app where they could share their talent or escape from reality when they were feeling down and wanted to cheer themselves. But now, soon, this might be gone, and we will be left empty-handed.
- Creators lose their charm
For influencers and small business owners, TikTok is more than just some useless app – it’s their way to outgrow their audience and income on which they spent years building.
If TikTok gets banned, they will also face a loss, as they have built it with much struggle. Nevertheless, they rebuild that audience and popularity on other platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, or others.
- Many People might lose their voice
Everyone has a right to protest, but since we live in the age of social media, most people use platforms like TikTok to record their protests. So, in case of a TikTok ban, they might lose their voice.
With it gone, many voices would go silent.
How are people dealing with it?
They have mixed opinions on that:
- Frustration: Many users feel that the ban is unfair and they are punishing them for nothing, and many other people don’t care even if their data is going to Chinese data, as they have nothing to hide.
- Instability: Content creators, especially full-time ones, are now facing big trouble and are unsure what they are going to do if TikTok faces a ban, as they used to earn from it and do not know heta they’re going to do with their lives.
- Support: As many people are concerned about it, there are also some people who agree and support the decision of TikTok getting banned. Saying it’s a smart move to protect their privacy.
- Workarounds: Others are already looking at VPNs and other platforms to keep running.
Conclusion:
Is this truly the end of TikTok in the U.S.?
Not yet, but the future is uncertain.
If ByteDance manages to sell its U.S. operations, the app could remain. If not, it may disappear from app stores and eventually become unusable, even via VPN.
For now, the battle between data security and digital expression continues, and TikTok remains at the center of it.
