In 2020, President Donald Trump proposed a ban of the app as he viewed it as a national security threat. In August, he signed an executive order instructing that ByteDance divest from the app, though the order was blocked by a court injunction in September and was reversed by the Biden administration in 2021. However, in 2024, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was proposed in Congress, again ordering that ByteDance divest due to alleged security concerns and pro-Palestinian bias. The bill was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden. Following a lawsuit from TikTok, the law was upheld by the Supreme Court.
On January 18, 2025, the day before the deadline of the law, TikTok suspended its services in the United States. The following day, after President-elect Trump signaled that he would grant an extension to TikTok upon being inaugurated, services were restored. On January 20, the first day of his term, Trump signed an executive order that halted enforcement of the ban for a 75-day period.
2025 shutdown
Messages displayed to US users who search for TikTok on the TikTok website (top), Google Play Store (middle), and Apple App Store (bottom) while the ban is in effect
In January 2025, TikTok users began exploring options for a "mass migration" to other apps in the event that TikTok were to be banned. On January 13, many U.S. TikTok users began downloading and switching to the Chinese app Xiaohongshu (or RedNote),[1][2][3] which is similar to Instagram and TikTok, in protest of the ban.[4] The hashtag "#tiktokrefugee" and the term TikTok refugee went viral on RedNote,[5][6] being used by both American and Chinese users.[7][8][9] The app became the most-downloaded free app on the Apple App Store,[10][11] and gained millions of U.S. users by January 16.[12][13] RedNote moderators worked overtime to translate content into English and accommodate the influx of new users.[14][15]
On January 18, at approximately 10:30 p.m. EST, TikTok temporarily suspended its services in the United States after ByteDance refused to divest before the deadline of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.[16] The app was removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for users in the United States, effectively barring them from downloading the application onto most mobile devices.[17] Users with the application still installed received an error message informing them that the service was no longer accessible in the US, and users visiting the website were shown a similar error message. Users were able to download their TikTok account data and sign in via the website, although all social functions, such as uploading, watching, commenting, or viewing profiles, were disabled.[18] Similar shutdowns of apps with connections to ByteDance followed, including Marvel Snap, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, CapCut, Lemon8, and Tokopedia.[19][20]
Message displayed to US users on the TikTok app after the resumption of services on January 19, 2025
Hours after the suspension of services took effect, President-elect Donald Trump indicated on Truth Social that he would issue an executive order on the day of his inauguration "to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect".[21][22] At 12:00 p.m. EST on January 19, TikTok began restoring service. In a post on X, they stated that Trump provided "assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties".[23] Later on January 19, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said, "I think we will enforce the law" and that his expectation is that TikTok would again be available on app stores only after Trump forces "a true divestiture, changing of hands, the ownership" of TikTok from ByteDance to a U.S. company.[24] Apple and Google have blocked efforts from TikTok to restore the app to their app stores. Senator Tom Cotton praised this, warning that companies that help maintain or distribute TikTok "could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law".[25]
On January 20, the first day of his second term, Trump, via an executive order, instituted a 75-day period of non-enforcement of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The order also suggested that a liability shield would be provided to companies that provided services to TikTok during that time. Trump stated that his administration would work toward a deal for "the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture".[26]
On January 25, negotiations were reported as being underway for a deal that would entail a takeover of TikTok's US operations by Oracle and American investors, addressing national security concerns, with a decision expected within 30 days. ByteDance would retain a stake while Oracle would manage data and software updates.[27]
In December 2019, the United States Army and Navy banned TikTok on government devices after the Department of Defense labeled it a security risk.[28] Before the policy change, army recruiters had been using the platform to attract young people. Unofficial promotional videos continue to be posted on TikTok under personal accounts, drawing the ire of government officials, but they have also helped boost the number of enlistees; several accounts have millions of views and followers.[28][29][30]
In 2020, the United States government announced that it was considering banning the Chinese social media platform TikTok upon a request from Donald Trump, the president of the United States, who viewed the app as a national security threat. The result was that the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance—which initially planned on selling a small portion of TikTok to an American company—agreed to divest TikTok to prevent a ban in the United States and in other countries where restrictions are also being considered due to privacy concerns, which themselves are mostly related to its ownership by a firm based in China.
TikTok later announced plans to file legal action challenging the order's transactional prohibitions with U.S. companies. The lawsuit against the Trump Administration's order was filed on August 24, 2020, with TikTok arguing that the order was motivated by Trump's efforts to boost re-election support through protectionist trade policies aimed at China. A separate suit filed the same day by TikTok's U.S. technical program manager Patrick Ryan against Trump and Secretary of CommerceWilbur Ross sought a temporary restraining order, arguing that his due process rights were violated and the ban was an "unconstitutional taking" of Ryan's property under the Fifth Amendment; the suit also claimed that Trump's action was likely a retaliation sparked by pranks against a Trump campaign rally that were organized through TikTok videos. The American technology company Microsoft had previously proposed an idea to acquire TikTok's algorithm and other artificial intelligence technology, but this was declined by ByteDance, as its executives expressed concern that it would likely be opposed by the Chinese government, which in turn had criticized the Trump administration's order as a "smash and grab" forced sale. On September 13, 2021, ByteDance suggested that it would prefer the shuttering of US operations over such a sale.
Biden administration (2021–2025)
Executive Order 14034 ("EO 14034"), "Protecting Americans' Sensitive Data from Foreign Adversaries"
On June 9, 2021, the Biden Administration issued Executive Order 14034, "Protecting Americans' Sensitive Data from Foreign Adversaries" ("EO 14034"), overturning three Executive Orders signed by Donald Trump: Executive Order 13942, Executive Order 13943, and Executive Order 13971. Despite revoking these Executive Orders, the Biden Administration's EO 14034 has called upon other federal agencies to continue a broad review of foreign-owned applications set to continuously inform the President of the risk that the applications pose to personal data and national security.[31] The White House said that, "The Biden Administration is committed to promoting an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet; protecting human rights online and offline; and supporting a vibrant, global digital economy."[32]
In December 2022, Senator Marco Rubio and representatives Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi introduced the Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act), which would prohibit Chinese- and Russian-owned social networks from doing business in the United States.[33][34]
On December 30, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, prohibiting the use of the app on devices owned by the federal government, with some exceptions.[35] Days after the Biden administration called on ByteDance, which owns TikTok, to sell the platform or face a ban, law enforcement officials disclosed that an investigation into TikTok was taking place. On March 17, 2023, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officially launched an investigation of TikTok, including allegations that the company spied on American journalists.[36]
On January 25, 2023, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley introduced a bill to ban the platform nationwide. After Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives, Hawley's attempt to force a vote on this bill in the Senate was blocked on March 29, 2023, when Kentucky Senator Rand Paul objected.[37]
In February and March 2023, the DATA Act and the RESTRICT Act were both introduced in the House of Representatives and Senate, respectively. The DATA Act, introduced on February 24 by Michael McCaul, aimed to ban selling non-public personal data to third-party buyers.[38] On March 7, Senator Mark Warner introduced the RESTRICT Act: if passed, it would give the Secretary of Commerce authority to review business transactions made by IT service and product vendors tied to designated "foreign adversaries" if they present an undue threat to national security, and have more than one million active users in the United States. The legislation would allow for the enforcement of orders and other mitigation measures, which could include mandatory divestment, or being prohibited from doing business in the United States.[39]
Several officials subsequently cited alleged pro-Palestinian bias on the app.[40] While advocating for a ban, Representative Mike Gallagher alleged "rampant pro-Hamas propaganda on the app".[41] Senators Mitt Romney, Josh Hawley, Representative Mike Lawler, and other Republicans have also alleged that TikTok had a pro-Palestine bias, with Lawler even alleging that TikTok was being manipulated during pro-Palestinian protests at colleges.[42] In a filing to the Supreme Court, TikTok's attorneys said, "Allegations that TikTok has amplified support for either side of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict are unfounded."[43]
Citing national security concerns, the U.S. Congress in April 2024 passed PAFACA which prohibits the hosting and distribution of apps determined by the President to present a significant national security threat if they are made by social media companies owned by foreign nationals or parent companies from countries designated as U.S. foreign adversaries, unless such companies are divested from the foreign entities. The law specifically named Chinese company ByteDance Ltd. and TikTok as "foreign adversary controlled". The deadline for their divestment was January 19, 2025.[56][57]
ByteDance sued the federal government following passage of PAFACA, asserting the law violated the First and Fifth Amendments. A panel of judges from the U.S. District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected the company's claims about the constitutionality of the law in December 2024[58][59][60] and declined to grant a temporary injunction, while ByteDance sought an appeal from the Supreme Court.[61][62]
The Supreme Court granted certiorari for TikTok's appeal on an expedited schedule, and heard oral arguments on January 10, 2025, nine days before the law's divestment deadline. In a per curiam decision released on January 17, 2025, the Court ruled that the law was constitutional, as Congress had shown the law satisfies intermediate scrutiny review on their concerns related to national security.[63]
Second Trump administration (2025–present)
Trump campaigned on promises of not banning TikTok, despite his original opposition.[64][65] Trump's cabinet picks for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as well as most Republicans, remained in favor of banning the app.[64] Trump mentioned that after taking office, he would pursue a 'political resolution' regarding the issue.[66] On January 20, his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order that instituted a 75-day period of non-enforcement of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.[67] He stated that his administration would work toward a deal for "the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture".[26]
On January 25, negotiations were reported as being underway for a deal that would entail a takeover of TikTok's US operations by Oracle and American investors, addressing national security concerns, with a decision expected within 30 days. ByteDance would retain a stake while Oracle would manage data and software updates.[27]
Other restrictions
On April 14, 2023, Montana became the first state to pass legislation banning TikTok on all personal devices operating within state lines, and barring app stores from offering TikTok for download.[68][69][70] Governor Greg Gianforte signed the bill, Senate Bill (SB) 419, into law on May 17.[71][72] The ban was blocked by US District Judge Donald W. Molloy on December 1, 2023, as he stated the ban "infringes on the Constitutional right of users and businesses". Due to the block, the ban did not come into effect as planned.[73]
As of April 2023,[74][75] at least 34 out of 50 states have announced or enacted bans on state government agencies, employees, and contractors using TikTok on government-issued devices. State bans only affect government employees and do not prohibit civilians from having or using the app on their personal devices.
TikTok said the company takes regular action against covert influence networks and has "more than 150 elections globally" behind it.[125] ByteDance is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, while TikTok Inc. is incorporated in California and Delaware[126] and says 60% of ByteDance is owned by global institutional investors.[127]
TikTok began working on Project Texas after 2020 to address data concerns from the US government.[128] From 2019 to 2024, TikTok and ByteDance combined spent $27 million on lobbying in the United States, including their hire of SKDK, a public affairs firm, in 2023 according to Politico.[129][130]Reuters reported that according to its sources, if all legal methods to block the April 2024 ban are exhausted, ByteDance would prefer to shut down TikTok than sell it with its core algorithm, which is also subject to China's export control.[131] On May 7, 2024, ByteDance and TikTok filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to overturn the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.[132][133]
Content creators described concerns about how they would make their living should a ban take effect.[137] Following the passing of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, eight TikTok content creators sued the United States government on May 14, 2024, in United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in an effort to overturn the act; the choice of venue was due to a provision in the act making it the "exclusive jurisdiction" for legal challenges of the act.[138]
Criticism
Bans and attempted bans in the United States have drawn objections citing hypocrisy, protectionism, and not addressing user data privacy in general. Lawmakers making allegations against TikTok fail to mention that the United States itself surveils non-US nationals under Section 702 of FISA.[139] The types of data collected by TikTok are also collected by other social media platforms and sold through brokers to private buyers and reportedly government agencies as well, without oversight.[139][140] Some researchers from the Citizen Lab and the Center for Strategic and International Studies stated that user information in general should be protected, not just focusing on one platform.[140][141][27] Critics have also labeled a potential ban on the app an assault on freedom of speech, including Republican congressmen Rand Paul and Thomas Massie.[142][143]
Observers have argued that the national security concerns raised are largely hypothetical.[144][145][146] There is insufficient public evidence to show that American user data has been accessed by or shared with the PRC government,[147][126][148] with some claims reportedly exaggerated.[149] Biden himself was on TikTok as the president, while Trump has reversed his previous position.[150] Lawmakers against the bill said the process was quickly rushed.[151][152][153] According to computer security specialist Bruce Schneier, which company owns TikTok may also be irrelevant, as Russia interfered in the 2016 US elections using Facebook without owning it.[154]
Congressional advocates for a ban have stated that the platform supports an anti-Israel bias, arguing that manipulation justifies a nationwide ban.[155] Analysis from Vox countered this argument, stating that support for the Palestinian cause has been growing among younger generations, who make up the majority of TikTok’s users, even before the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.[156] Analysts argued that popular videos on the app in support of Palestinians or criticizing Israel were "likely an accurate reflection of the beliefs shared by the majority of users using the platform".[157]
^"小红书走向国际化，小红书连夜招聘英文内容审核员" [Xiaohongshu goes international, recruiting English content reviewers overnight]. finance.sina.cn (in Chinese (China)). January 15, 2025. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
^Lawler, Richard (January 19, 2025). "TikTok is down in the US". The Verge. Archived from the original on January 19, 2025. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
^Wiggers, Kyle; Ha, Anthony (January 19, 2025). "TikTok goes dark in the US". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on January 19, 2025. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
^Lawler, Richard (January 18, 2025). "TikTok is down in the US". The Verge. Archived from the original on January 19, 2025. Retrieved January 18, 2025. TikTok has gone dark in the US now that the ban-or-divest law passed last year is taking effect. The app has been removed from both Apple and Google's app stores, it's unavailable on the web, and users who open the app are blocked from viewing videos.
^Culhane, Mallory (March 11, 2024). "The Chinese government is using TikTok to meddle in elections, ODNI says". Politico. Archived from the original on April 17, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2024. ODNI alleges that "TikTok accounts run by a PRC propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the U.S. midterm election cycle in 2022,"...To date, there have been no concrete examples publicly provided showing how TikTok poses a national security threat, though lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee received a closed-door hearing last Thursday from ODNI, the FBI and the Department of Justice.
^Lin, Liza; Chun Han, Wong (April 26, 2024). "Why China Is Holding Its Fire as U.S. Moves to Ban TikTok". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024. The Communist Party's propaganda department, which regularly sends reporting guidelines to state-owned media outlets, recently instructed such media to amp up their reporting on TikTok's U.S. woes in favor of ByteDance, according to people familiar with the matter.
^ abChin, Caitlin (October 6, 2022). "U.S. Digital Privacy Troubles Do Not Start or End with TikTok". Center for Strategic and International Studies. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved September 10, 2023. In recent years, government agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Special Operations Command, Internal Revenue Service, and Defense Intelligence Agency have reportedly purchased massive amounts of U.S. mobile app geolocation information from data brokers—without warrants or proper oversight. Furthermore, U.S. private companies, such as Clearview AI, Palantir, and Giant Oak have collectively scanned billions of social media posts—which could include TikTok content.
^Fung, Brian (March 21, 2023). "Lawmakers say TikTok is a national security threat, but evidence remains unclear". CNN. Archived from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved December 23, 2023. TikTok is only a product of the entire surveillance capitalism economy, Lin said. Governments should try to better protect user information, instead of focusing on one particular app without good evidence.
^"House approves sell-or-be-banned TikTok measure, attaching it to foreign aid bill". Wisconsin Public Radio. Archived from the original on April 27, 2024. Retrieved April 27, 2024. Those concerns remain largely hypothetical. TikTok is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, yet there is no publicly available evidence that government officials have ever influenced what Americans see on the app, nor any proof that officials in China have spied on U.S. citizens through TikTok.
^Fung, Brian (March 12, 2024). "TikTok creators fear a ban as the House prepares to vote on a bill that could block the app in America". CNN. Archived from the original on March 14, 2024. Retrieved March 14, 2024. Cybersecurity experts say that the national security concerns surrounding TikTok remain a hypothetical—albeit concerning—scenario. US officials have not publicly presented evidence that the Chinese government has accessed the user data of US TikTok users. ... a strain of fear and racism, echoing many other Asian-Americans who have looked on with growing alarm. Creators interviewed by CNN say they have not personally viewed any content on TikTok that could be described as Chinese propaganda, however. Multiple creators say the House bill ... would almost certainly disrupt the organic communities they've built.
^Warzel, Charlie (April 24, 2024). "Welcome to the TikTok Meltdown". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on January 20, 2025. Retrieved January 20, 2025. Some of the evidence may also be of dubious provenance—as Wired reported recently, a TikTok whistleblower who claims to have spoken with numerous politicians about a potential ban may have overstated his role at the company and offered numerous improbable claims about its inner workings.
^Klippenstein, Ken (March 16, 2024). "TikTok Threat Is Purely Hypothetical, U.S. Intelligence Admits". The Intercept. Archived from the original on April 23, 2024. Retrieved April 22, 2024. The problem with TikTok isn't related to their ownership. In 2016 Russia did this with Facebook and they didn't have to own Facebook—they just bought ads like everybody else. Trump signed a covert action order authorizing the CIA to use social media to influence and manipulate domestic Chinese public opinion and views on China.
