Avid users were definitely nervous about all the drama surrounding TikTok. It felt like every time you checked the news, there was something new about the app possibly getting banned, and it made many wonder if they would lose access to all the content they enjoy. TikTok has become such a big part of many people’s daily routine, so the idea of it disappearing was kind of sad. Believe it or not, TikTok has been facing potential bans not just in the U.S. but in other countries for years. For those unfamiliar, TikTok is a social media app that launched in September 2016 and has become incredibly popular since then. As of 2025, TikTok has around 1.925 billion users worldwide, with 170 million active users in the United States.

The app is known for short videos, usually between 15 to 60 seconds, that users create and share. However, TikTok has recently faced a lot of controversy due to concerns over national security, user data privacy, and the fact that it’s owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. This isn’t a new issue for TikTok. The app has faced potential bans in the past. For example, it was banned in India on June 29, 2020, along with many other Chinese apps, over national security worries. In July 2020, the Trump administration tried to ban TikTok in the U.S. unless it was sold to an American company. The main concern was that TikTok might share users’ data with the Chinese government, something TikTok has denied.

There were even deadlines set for companies like Microsoft and Oracle to buy TikTok, but in October 2020, a court blocked the ban, and it was never put into effect. Then in 2023, the Biden administration brought up the issue again but took a different approach. The government pushed for new regulations under a law called the RESTRICT Act. This law would give the U.S. government more power to ban apps like TikTok if needed. TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, testified before Congress for almost 5 hours in March 2023 to try to defend the app. Still, no decision was made about banning TikTok. Some states even tried to ban the app on their own.

In December 2023, Montana passed a law to ban TikTok, but a federal judge blocked it just before it was set to start in January 2024. In March 2024, the House of Representatives passed the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act,” and President Biden signed it into law in April 2024. The law gave ByteDance 180 days (about six months) to sell TikTok or face a possible ban in the U.S. In May 2024, TikTok and ByteDance filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, saying the law went against the First Amendment right to free speech.

Then, on January 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the law was constitutional. The next day, January 18, 2025, TikTok was temporarily suspended in the U.S. for a few hours, but after that, President Trump granted TikTok an extension before he left office. While the app is still available for some users, those who deleted it can’t find or download it from the app store anymore.