Trump Trending Toward TikTok End

Courtesy of ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Christina Kim, Staff Reporter

Since January 19, 2025, the ban on TikTok has been circulating in the U.S. The reason President Donald Trump wants to ban TikTok is because of the concerns from the U.S. government about data collection. As of right now, TikTok is being operated under a new ownership structure by Trump. However, many citizens wonder if the ban is really necessary.

“I thought it was dumb how quickly it came back,” senior Andrea Enriquez said. “I use TikTok every day. I also feel like the most impact would be the influencers that use social media daily.”

Recently, Trump announced that the ban on TikTok was postponed for the fourth time. These delays had raised questions about limiting presidential power and the rule of law in the U.S.

The government had previously sparked multiple concerns about TikTok posing a national security risk under Chinese ownership: an argument lawmakers and officials have been making for years. These officials feel that people who use TikTok daily are likely to have their data tracked and collected.

Back in April of 2024, Congress passed a bill that was signed by former President Joe Biden. The bill gave ByteDance, TikTok’s owner, nine months to decide whether or not to sell the app. Many U.S. creators say that it would be quite devastating for the loss of the app, especially for the ones who love TikTok.

“I don’t use TikTok, but I feel like this ban is quite unnecessary,” junior Janellen Monzon said. “I feel like the ban only happened because TikTok is owned by China. It feels like Temu was getting in trouble for security reasons. There could be a similar situation where they tried to get rid of TikTok.” TikTok was originally owned by ByteDance. However, the Trump administration made an announcement that there was a deal reached with China. The deal was an ongoing negotiation about avoiding the ban.

Since August 2018, TikTok has been the type of app that thousands of people, especially teenagers and influencers, visit on a daily basis to watch videos or post to their millions of followers. Back in 2024, users would spend 51 minutes per day on TikTok.

“I don’t think that TikTok should be banned,” junior Garrison Christensen said. “I feel that maybe people have truths and questions and answers to any problems we face.”

So far, the decision to ban the app has not been made, but officials are still working together to gather enough evidence.