TikTok, the globally popular social media platform, will be banned from the United States Jan. 19, the app effectively “going dark”. App developers will be legally prohibited from distributing, maintaining or updating the app. 

The ban has been impending since July 2020, when then-President Donald Trump first considered banning the app as “retaliation for China’s alleged mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to the Associated Press (AP).

The app underwent a brand resurgence from its former title, Music.ly, when the platform was bought by China’s ByteDance in Nov. 2017. TikTok, a merger between Music.ly and ByteDance, was first introduced to the public Aug. 2, 2018, according to a timeline of the app’s history released by AP in May 2024. 

Since its rebranding in 2018, the social media platform has been credited by many users as a way to network as a small business owner or find a target audience as a content creator. TikTok Shop, an e-commerce feature of the platform, generated $17.5B in 2024 for small businesses nationally.

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Kat Hawthrone, a second-year acting major at Ball State University, is a content creator on campus and part of the generation who grew up around the same time TikTok’s popularity dominated mainstream media.

At age 15, Hawthorne was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that prompted a slew of other disabilities.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began around the same time of her diagnosis, Hawthorne turned to various social media outlets as a way to cope with quarantine isolation and make sense of her new identity as a disabled person. 

“I felt like my whole life was revolving around [the disabilities] in the moment,” she said.

She found support through TikTok, specifically, and the online disabled community on the platform.

“TikTok has always been, I feel, like a nice safe space. I love posting on TikTok [because] I end up on the algorithms of people who are interested in the type of content I post,” she said.

Yet, in 2020, some lawmakers brought attention to the potential national security threat due to the platform’s Chinese origins. By August of that year, Trump issued a “sweeping but vague” executive order, banning American companies from any “transaction” with ByteDance and its subsidiaries, including TikTok. Days later, he issued a second order, demanding ByteDance divest itself of TikTok’s U.S. operations within 90 days, according to AP.

The company failed to comply, instead suing the Trump administration for allegedly violating due process of executive orders.

Efforts to ban the app nationally were seemingly halted when Trump lost re-election in November 2020. President Joe Biden did not enforce the ban during his last few days in office, leaving President-elect Trump to decide the app’s fate, according to the AP. Trump pledged to save the app upon returning to office despite having called it a threat during his last presidential tenure.

The app was officially banned from the U.S. a day before Trump took his second oath of office Jan. 20.

Now, TikTok’s absence has left a void in the hearts of many who once depended on the platform’s algorithm to find entertainment and engagement outreach opportunities. 

Ke’Juan Smith, a third-year student at Ball State, is a student ambassador for Ball State Bound, the university’s communications program with the primary objective to engage with prospective or newly admitted Ball State students.

Smith said TikTok's purpose as an outlet for short, fun videos — alongside its user-curated algorithm — served as a way for the university to offer “a sprinkle of college life to aspiring and incoming cardinals.” Without it, Smith and his team of ambassadors are prepared to be flexible.

RELATED: Being vulnerable online allowed Kat Hawthorne to regain their confidence

 “There’s always another app on the horizon,” he said.

Some possible TikTok replacements include: Lemon8, RedNote and Instagram’s Reels feature.

Lemon8 is a sister app of TikTok that “resembles an amalgamation of the types of short-form videos found on TikTok and the picture-perfect aesthetic of Instagram and Pinterest,” according to AP. However, Lemon8 may likely suffer the same fate as TikTok with both platforms being owned by ByteDance.

RedNote, known in its homeland as Xiaohongshu, is the Chinese variation of TikTok. When the U.S. Supreme Court seemed likely to uphold TikTok’s ban, RedNote became the top downloaded app in the U.S., according to AP, with the hashtag  “#tiktokrefugee” trending in-app.

Hawthorne, whose content has evolved throughout the years to include a variety of baking techniques, LGBTQ+ advocacy, fashion inspiration and disability representation, has met many through TikTok who are “uplifting” and “embracing.” 

Although she recognized her niche audience, it has helped Hawthorne feel more confident in her disability. She credited her curated viewers to the TikTok algorithm, as opposed to the algorithms of similar social media platforms like Instagram reels.

“I feel like the Instagram reels algorithm is a lot less specialized on what you want to see, so that is where I've gotten hundreds of hate comments,” she said.

Hawthorne strives to produce authentic content but has adapted through the years to sustain a sense of privacy online. Because of that, she said hate comments do not affect her in the same capacity they did at a younger age. In fact, Hawthorne now encourages them.

“I am monetized on Instagram reels, so I do make money from posting reels — not that much — but that means every comment gives me a little bit of money. So, comment hate — you're paying me,” she said.

Instagram, the American-owned social media platform for sharing photos and videos, first introduced its reel feature in Aug. 2020 — nearly two years to the day after TkTok’s rebrand. Instagram reels allow users to “create multi-clip videos up to 90 seconds, and get creative with easy-to-use text, augmented reality filters and audio,” according to Instagram’s website.

Though Hawthorne said she is unaware of what the social media landscape will look like long-term without TikTok, she has a few ideas, drawing comparisons between TikTok and Instagram’s short-form content features and moving to YouTube to post long-form content.

As a cybersecurity major, Smith struggled to understand why lawmakers view the app as a threat to national security.

 “I’m no politician,” he said, “but personally, do I think it’s a threat? Probably not. It’s just for fun videos.” 

However, Smith acknowledged the gray area of the ban as technology advances and digital media becomes more mainstream. 

“In the world of cybersecurity, you never know,” he said.

Despite current uncertainties posed by the ban and its generational impact on the digital ecosystem, Smith and Hawthorne agreed a TikTok ban should not be the priority of government officials and policymakers. Hawthorne traced the responsibility of recognizing online deception back to the user, underscoring the importance of media literacy in today’s digital age.

“The internet, as a whole, has so much you can be deceived with. So, yes, I do think TikTok does [deceive its users], but I also think anywhere online does that. Social media should not be your source of news. It's a cool way to learn about something, but further research is so important,” she said.

Contact Katherine Hill via email at katherine.hill@bsu.edu.

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