.         TikTok, owned by Chinese company Bytedance, is headquartered in Singapore and is run independently. over 1.6 billion people around the world use the app and over 170 million people in the U.S. alone use TikTok on a daily basis. The US Senate and other government agencies began to speculate that the Chinese Communist Party has been spying on America through the app. Through a long and extensive process the U.S. government decided to ban the app in the country. Many people use this app for money and entertainment, but students at Westfield high school resonate with it personally. Darsh Gupta, 10, says “They should bring back .         TikTok,” and when asked why he says, “Because Instagram reels sucks” . Students such as myself watch TikTok on a daily basis and have used it for entertainment.
.         Many people like to make videos such as vlogs and daily routines that people look forward to. One account on tiktok, Yourprouddad, records videos in a point of view such that the viewers feel like they are really speaking to him. Yourprouddad is one of the many TikTok accounts that people look up to and watch for emotional comfort. TikTok users have many movements and protests and now that the app is coming to its demise, in the U.S., the users have decided to spite the government.
.         On January 19 2025, TikTok was, officially, nationally banned and was not available in the app store to download. The app was also not working for the users. Users switched to lemon8, RedNote, and instagram reels. People were losing their sanity, millions of people were addicted to this app. Then by what people thought was a miracle Trump lifted the ban for 90 days, but with a catch, it was still no longer available for download and people who deleted the app were no longer able to re-download it. TikTok users in America will also not be allowed to update the app, so slowly if the ban is not lifted the app will stop working.
.         Users have moved to a new app called RedNote. RedNote is a fully Chinese app with a fully Chinese interface. Users used this app to spite the government showing them that no matter what tiktok’s spirit would not end. Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, was put into a courtroom to try and defend his company. The senate and congressmen had asked the CEO multiple questions to try and get him to confess, but he stood his ground and spoke with authority.
.         RedNote was not the only app that was downloaded and escalated to number 1 on the app store charts; there was also another app called lemon8. This app was downloaded by many previous TikTok users. TikTok and ByteDance themselves made this app as a replacement for TikTok. When using the TikTok app when you select the profile icon in the bottom right, and look in your bio it asks if you would like to download the lemon8 app. Lemon8 is not an exact replica of the TikTok app, but for the time being it should do the trick.
.         Overall, it is unclear where the TikTok ban is going to end up, but TikTok users all around the world have hope for us. ByteDance is doing everything they can do at this time, with even interests of selling to an American company owned by the likes of Elon Musk. Although, whatever happens, TikTok will never be forgotten.