Over the past 5 years, a social media app called TikTok has rapidly grown to have over 1 billion monthly users, 150 million of them who come from the United States of America. In April of 2024, the United States’ Senate had officially voted to ban TikTok usage in the country due to security and privacy issues. As President Biden’s term comes to an end, several things regarding this app are expected to change when Trump takes office. In this article we will discuss the future of TikTok, why the U.S. wants to ban it, and what will change as Trump enters office.
In the last year, the U.S. Senate signed to ban TikTok due to privacy and security reasons. According to APNews, “The foreign aid package includes a provision that makes it illegal for data brokers to sell or rent “personally identifiable sensitive data” to North Korea, China, Russia, Iran or entities in those countries. But it has encountered some pushback, including from the American Civil Liberties Union, which says the language is written too broadly and could sweep in journalists and others who publish personal information.” The U.S. worries the app steals users’ data and as a result, the country wants to ban it. Banning the app would mean already existing downloads of the app can not update to newer versions, and new downloads on other devices will be prohibited. Additionally, the Senate will try to push for banning the usage of the current versions of the app to completely terminate TikTok.
TikTok is currently scheduled to undergo its ban on January 19th, 2025. Coincidentally, this specific date is Biden’s last day in office as the U.S. President, meaning the day after the ban, Trump will be in office. Donald Trump has shown wavering signs in terms of the ban, as previously he wasn’t on a certain side in the debate to ban the app. However, in the last few months he has shown interest in reversing the ban and has taken actions to try to delay the ban until he returns to presidency.
If Donald Trump were to successfully reverse the ban on TikTok, all the progress the Senate made in 2024 would be no good. This would allow the millions of creators who rely on TikTok for their income to keep being able to do so. Additionally, TikTok would predictably stop looking for a non-Chinese (preferably American) company to buy the app as there are no threats from the U.S. to terminate it anymore.
With only a couple weeks before the scheduled ban date, no one can predict the outcome and fate of TikTok, and whether or not Trump will reverse the Senate’s decision but it is sure that the U.S. will push for measures to help improve the privacy and security terms that created issues in the first place.