The Ban on TikTok Just Became Real – Updated

By Greg Holt

UPDATE:  **Not all U.S. users are able to access TikTok yet – the link went to TikTok’s YouTube channel when I tried it**

TikTok was up and running again Sunday — hours after President-elect Donald Trump vowed to keep it “from going dark.”

The Chinese social media app confirmed it was in the process of restoring service in a statement posted to X — and praised Trump for his part in getting the site back.  

“We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive,” TikTok Policy wrote on X. 


As of about 10:35PM on January 18, 2025, TikTok became unavailable in the U.S.

The United States has been threatening that TikTok would be banned in the U.S over fears of the popular app being used for spying and information gathering.  The app had already been banned by many states for use by government employees.

“Lawmakers and U.S. officials have sounded the alarm for years about the supposed risks that TikTok’s ties to China pose to national security, and Congress moved last year to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its stake in the app or be cut off from the U.S. market. The law gave the company a deadline of Jan. 19 — one day before a new president would take office.”  (Source)

Late Saturday night, TikTok users instead of logging onto their favorite app as usual, were greeted by this image:

Free speech advocates have strongly condemned the move saying that shutting down the app over “national security” issues is a cause for concern.  Many people in the U.S. operate businesses on TikTok, so this will have a detrimental affect on them, at least for the time being.

The U.S. government’s fear is that TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, could be made to hand over any information they have to the Chinese government.  Given the Chinese government’s track record, this is a legitimate fear.

Talks concerning shutting down TikTok have been going on for four years now, so this is not exactly coming out of left field.

Donald Trump has stated that the Supreme Court’s ruling on TikTok needs to be respected, yet he has promised to keep TikTok alive and well in the U.S., it remains to be seen how that will be achieved.



Categories: NEWS & CURRENT EVENTS

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2 replies

  1. Why is it back already? The whining and crying I see on FB when it left was unreal. Just get rid of it.

Luke 21:36 "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

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