Is TikTok Officially Banned in the U.S.?

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Trump is trying to ban TikTok

Jesyca Santacruz, Student Life Editor

The latest addiction, TikTok, has recently taken control as the #1 app in entertainment in the U.S. charts. Yet this new obsession may be here for a much shorter period than we expected.

According to President Trump, TikTok may be banned from the U.S. starting last September. However, this new statement has yet been put into play as it is already November. So the big question is, is TikTok truly banned from the U.S.?

TikTok Censorship Logo

You may be wondering, why? Why does the government want to ban the app that is keeping most of us sane during this pandemic?

The short and simple answer is because of national security concerns. In other words, the Trump Administration is afraid of false information being leaked to the Chinese government; as TikTok is a Chinese-made app. Over 32.5 percent of TikTok’s users are American and most are minors. This makes the government afraid of false and misused information being leaked on TikTok with the possibility of it being exposed to the Government in China. The Trump Administration also fears the blackmail that may come with the leaked information.

However, all hope is not lost. It has been stated that the computer software company, Oracle, would gladly buy TikTok. It would even make sense if they did. If they were to buy it off and take over, they would make sure that the security is higher in order to keep in the information the president is afraid of leaking. To make chances higher, Microsoft and Walmart are also planning to buy the app with Oracle.

Oracle, Walmart, and Microsoft planning to buy TikTok

The original time set for the TikTok banning was to be placed in September. But the owner of TikTok, ByteDance Ltd., has requested to put it on hold. To make it more interesting, ByteDance Ltd. requested to put TikTok on hold on the exact date and time it was set to be banned from the U.S. As a result, the banning has been put on hold until November.

While the ban may be set on hold, it is still said to come up again soon this month. Therefore, if you are one of the frequent users of TikTok, enjoy it as much as you can because we are never certain as to what could happen in the near future for this app.