Originally starting off as Musical.ly, TikTok has come a long way after gaining popularity especially since 2020. TikTok has become one of the most popular apps in the world, but how much longer will it last?
TikTok started off as Musical.ly in 2012. Soon the owners of the app, ByteDance, would create a spin-off of Musical.ly in 2016 for their foreign audiences called TikTok. After gaining 1 billion dollars off of Musical.ly in 2017, ByteDance merges Musical.ly and TikTok to form the app you know today.
In September of 2019, ByteDance publicly announced that the app was not for politics, but for entertainment and that there would be content moderations. However, many noticed that the app would mainly filter out any topics sensitive to China.
These topics could be, but are not limited to, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and subsequent massacre, Tibetan independence or the sanctioned religious group Falun Gong, according to an article from AP News.
In October 2019, U.S. Politicians became suspicious of TikTok and called for a, “federal investigation of its Musical.ly acquisition,” according to AP News. The investigation began that November. In December, the Pentagon recommended that all U.S. Military personnel delete TikTok from their devices.
In July of 2020, India banned TikTok and various other Chinese apps in response to a border clash with China. President Donald Trump began to consider banning TikTok in the U.S. as well. This was in an attempt to retaliate for China’s alleged mishandling of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Trump began to take steps to ban TikTok, but then President Joe Biden was elected in November 2020 and decided to cancel the ban.
Over the next three years, there were many controversies with TikTok. Some believed that China was spying on us through the app, and others were concerned for the mental health of teens on TikTok.
There have been many unhealthy and dangerous trends on TikTok that have led to deaths, including the tide-pod challenge, blackout challenge, and the devious lick challenge which was straight up illegal.
Finally, results started to show after the long process of getting TikTok banned in March of 2024. A bill to ban TikTok or force ByteDance to sell the app to a U.S. company was presented to Congress. In response TikTok brought dozens of creators to Washington to tell lawmakers to “back off.”
The House of Representatives passed the TikTok ban-or-sell bill. In April 2024, President Biden signed the bill.
Then in May of 2024, ByteDance sued the U.S. federal government, claiming the law to ban-or-sell was unconstitutional. ByteDance was not supported by the court. This year, January 19 was the deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok or face the loss of thousands of U.S. users and creators of the app.
After a lengthy process, and a lot of controversies on January 18, TikTok “went dark” 3 hours before it was supposed to. Just for the ban to be lifted 14 hours later, which TikTok had accredited to “President Donald Trump’s efforts.” Many were confused, but grateful to have the app back.
Trump had signed an executive order to give TikTok an extension, even though Trump was not to be in office until the day after the ban, on Monday January 20. TikTok now has 75 additional days to sell-or-ban, according to Politico.
However, James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson, better known as his online persona, Mr. Beast, has shown his interest in purchasing the platform, and has even tried to contact ByteDance. Many are speculating that within the next 75 days, Mr. Beast will have purchased the app. For now, America will patiently wait on a miracle.
