By Cole Gee | Staff Writer
Born from the ashes of Vine and Musical.ly, TikTok has captured the attention spans of Americans for half a decade. But despite an order from the Supreme Court that would’ve forced TikTok to sell or be banned in the United States, American users still have the ability to scroll on their ‘For You’ pages due to President Donald Trump signing an executive order on Monday that delays the ban.
When 170 million American users logged onto TikTok on Jan. 19, they expected the app to not be the same. The ban stemmed from PAFACA (Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act). Trump got the ball rolling in 2020 when he signed an executive order to sanction the app, but little other legislation happened until Biden signed the act into law in April, which grants the government the right to ban foreign-owned apps deemed to be a threat to national security.
TikTok employees and lawyers said that when the ban went into effect, the app would go completely dark, and American users would then be greeted by a black screen with a link to the website explaining the ban. Users would also be unable to access their account. All of this came true, but only for around 14 hours.
As of now, TikTok is still available to those who have not deleted the app from their devices. In a new message, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew thanked President Trump for his help in restoring the app and protecting the free speech of its American users. Multiple reports now believe that TikTok has made a deal with Trump to delay the ban in order to sell to a U.S. based company.
Despite the app still being available, the potential consequences of the ban initially alarmed some professionals, as many content creators use TikTok as a springboard to get important information out to followers. Many professionals were prepared to adapt and adjust to the shifting social media landscape.
Jeff Brown has been the director for social media communications at Baylor University since 2013. Along with his team, he manages the various official social media accounts of the university, along with assisting student organizations with their various accounts.
Brown said the ban would certainly be a loss, but the university had prepared for the possibility since it was first announced in 2020. Due to the possibility of a ban, they are ready to focus on other social media avenues instead.
“Past experience tells us that those people are going to find someplace else to go, and it may not all be the same place,” Brown said. “Some of them may go to Instagram a little more; some of them may spend a little more time on YouTube. But I think brands — including universities — will pivot and will adjust and put a little more effort into some of those other locations as we see where people are going.”
Brown said a deeper issue would be the loss of connectivity since TikTok allows for a more personal and relaxed view of campus and Baylor’s culture than Instagram or Facebook.
“Social media lets you communicate a lot more often,” Brown said. “You can connect more deeply and more thoroughly through a video than you can a letter or a pamphlet. A pamphlet’s gonna have a few pictures, but a video gives you a deeper sense of what you’re looking at.”
KCEN-TV Anchor Micah Wilson is a social media professional and journalist who uses TikTok mainly to share the morning news segments from his local station. He also provides a fun behind-the-scenes look at what a news anchor does in their day-to-day.
“TikTok’s allowed me to not only showcase the stories here in Central Texas and show it to a different audience who might not be watching TV, but it’s also allowed me to show me as a human rather than just the TV man,” Wilson said.
In the years since 2018 when Musical.ly became TikTok, the platform has become known for uplifting local news organizations and news-adjacent influencers. Many young people tend to get their news from TikTok over traditional news outlets and with the app going away, this could be a big loss for many media outlets, Wilson said.
“I feel like you’re able to give a different feel on TikTok,” Wilson said. “Facebook is still my primary, but I feel like TikTok is still allowing me to share things to a new audience in a different light and get not just regional and citywide recognition, but also just worldwide.”
However, both media professionals agree that another app will replace TikTok in the near future should the ban go through. The same way TikTok replaced Musical.ly and Musical.ly replaced Vine. The only variable left now is whether or not TikTok will officially survive yet another attempt of removal.
