The Rise and Fall of TikTok: A Temporary Ban or an Orchestrated Publicity Stunt?

 For over half a decade, there have been many trends come and go throughout the world, with many of them being online-related. One of the most prominent technology holds on society has been TikTok. The app has been continuing strong, with almost 5.5 billion downloads since its launch in 2018. 

Many everyday people had started careers as influencers on the app and were relying on the success and continuation of TikTok for their livelihood. It seemed that the majority of society was addicted to this app, with people spending hours every day scrolling through a carefully curated algorithm of videos for their profile. With the upcoming power change in the U.S. government, however, it seemed that all of that was about to change. 

After many threats to remove the app from U.S. usage, it was recently announced by U.S. officials that the app would officially become unavailable in app stores within the country. It was also explained that the app would stop receiving updates, eventually leading to a crash for anyone who already had it downloaded. 

The ban was set to go into effect on January 19, but TikTok users in the U.S. found out on Saturday night that the ban had suddenly began a day early, with their pages being paused from scrolling and the app disappearing from app stores. The message, "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now," was plastered across the screen of many Americans' phones that night, leading to many people panicking about what they were supposed to do now that the app was gone for good (or so they thought).

Shockingly, 12 hours later, on Sunday morning, the app was still unavailable in U.S. app stores, but the pages were suddenly available for scrolling again, for those that still had TikTok downloaded. Everyone was in disbelief, wondering how and why this dramatic ban had occurred to begin with, and what was the reasoning as to why it had only lasted half a day. 

Controversy quickly surrounded the upcoming presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, with theories circulating the coincidence between the ban and the immediate reinstatement of the app, with a message across the app thanking Trump for his "willingness" to work with the government and the app to get it back permanently. 

There have also been stories from users about how their For You Page is no longer the same as it was before, even noticing that certain comments and themes are now blocked on the app, with many of them concerning negative comments towards Trump. This has led to an even more compelling argument towards Trump having a secret involvement and having potentially orchestrated the ban and reinstatement as a way to gain more followers during his presidency. 

There's no doubt that this ban taking place on such a prominent social media platform had a huge impact on the way that it was perceived. With it being one of the most popular, addicting, and constantly growing forms of social media, the audience was going to be extremely engaged for the news regarding the ban. TikTok users were suddenly unable to use the app for their daily dose of news (or at least for a few hours), but they were able to go to other platforms to spread their thoughts on the ban. Now that the app is back, they are continuing to share those thoughts on said platform, causing an even more growing circulation of spreading stories. 

The news surrounding this nationwide occurrence is still being updated daily, with further data being collected regarding Trump's involvement in the ban, the potential of a future date of TikTok returning to U.S. app stores, and concerns about the new differences within the app after returning from its temporary ban.