The short TikTok ban, lasting not longer than 10-15 hours, went into effect on January 18th at 8:30 pm. People did not react to it well, moving to another app whether it be, REDNOTE (xiaohongshu), Instagram or even Twitter, some even downloading new apps that look and act just like TikTok. People on these apps started to refer to them as ‘TikTok refugees’.
These people practically freaked out about their TikTok being down for those short hours. When it was back, you would be presented with your feed full of odd videos, some you never even put on your algorithm, but after a few days, peoples feed would be back to normal after that short period no one was posting videos.
TikTok has been a part of the social media train for almost 5 years now, maybe even 10 since it was originally music.ly. A lot of entrepreneurs make their money off the app, bringing in thousands of dollars just by making videos or even promoting their small businesses. Some people argued that TikTok shouldn’t be banned for that reason, and also because deleting the app would be a hit to free speech of the people.
TikTok has always been a heavy influence of free speech, especially from the years 2022-2025, since it’s starting to become the norm of talking about issues in the world, from the LA fires to other countries’ issues, but now people feel like their voices are being silenced because of this ban. They feel like they don’t have a voice to make people aware of issues and violence that we should be worrying about instead of focusing on banning an app.
Noah Smith, a senior, explains, “a lot of people rely on TikTok for some kind of income, cause maybe they can’t make enough or they don’t have the requirements to meet a higher paying job. It’s just unfortunate that so many people are out of a job now because of this ban”
TikTok has always been a form of community for some people, even helping students in their school life and personal life, giving them a place to find solitude or even a distraction from things going on around them.
“It definitely makes school life more tolerable, like just knowing that in downtime i can just take a look at my ‘for you page’ and it’s mostly just funny stuff and it brightens my day significantly.” said by Noah Smith.
That being said, TikTok has a place in the younger generations’ hearts, and will always be there for the people that need extra money or just want to post and make friends, but how long will it stay like this?
