If you’re anything like me, you’d been hearing about the pending TikTok ban that was to take place in the U.S. on January 19, 2025 since the latter half of the previous year.
However, now that the looming ban came and passed, bringing with it only a shocking 12 hours of darkness before TikTok’s return, Americans are still divided about the issue at hand: should TikTok be banned for good in the U.S., or does its banning interfere with First Amendment rights?
When I first began hearing about the ban, I didn’t think it would actually occur the way it did. After all, we’d been hearing about the potential banning of TikTok as early as 2020, and it’d never gone through as a concrete plan of legislation.
As I scrolled on my For You Page in the days leading up to January 19, I started to believe the beloved app would indeed be banned, as creators and everyone online started discussing what would happen once the app shut down. I continued scrolling, growing more concerned the more I took in various sources of information from both accounts I follow and the sometimes random algorithm that showed up on my feed.
On January 18, everyone in the U.S. was taken by surprise when the app unexpectedly slowed down and came to a total halt. Users rushed to other social media apps Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) to express their shock at the banning of TikTok as it unfolded before their eyes.
Roughly 12 hours passed before users discovered the app was back and running, as it previously had been. However, the banning and return of TikTok prompted me to ask: Was TikTok rightfully banned, or did its banning violate the First Amendment rights granted to Americans?
“I don’t think it’s a violation of First Amendment rights,” history teacher Wayne Bailey commented. “There’s other apps or ways to express yourself, such as painting, drawing, and other social platforms like Facebook and Instagram,” he continued.
On the other hand, TikTok has been heavily defended because its banning is claimed to have violated First Amendment rights, which guarantees American citizens five freedoms: religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
“I believe all rights have been violated because TikTok has been prominent in the spread of awareness of many events happening in the United States for the last few years,” a junior student who chose to remain anonymous contributed.
However, there was common ground to be found at the center of this debate.
“If it was the banning of all other social media apps, then it would entertain the argument of violation of First Amendment rights,” Bailey said.
Similarly, the anonymous student shared that “it should be justified to shut down all social media platforms” due to the fact that American-owned Facebook also has access to users’ information; therefore other American apps would need to be banned in order for the singular banning of TikTok to even be fair or reasonable at all.
While there are countless arguments to support either side, as of current TikTok is back and seemingly here to stay for the time being, much to the mixed opinions of many Americans.