The long-dreaded TikTok ban, implemented on Jan. 19, 2025 in the U.S., took a turn on Jan. 20 when President Donald Trump signed an executive order postponing the implementation of the federal law. If enacted, the federal law — originally signed by previous president Joe Biden — would have required TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the app to continue its operation in the U.S.
Trump pledged not to enforce the ban when he entered office, and a little over 12 hours after the ban took place, the site was back up and running. His implemented executive order and 75-day extension gives the government more time to resolve the conflict between national interests and data security.
Under Trump’s orders, the Department of Justice is instructed to stop all efforts to enforce the ban. Therefore, it is guaranteed that businesses won’t be penalized for facilitating TikTok’s operations.
For now, the 170 million TikTok users in the U.S. may continue scrolling, but there are still many questions yet to be answered.
Hello, I’m Gauri Sethi, a passionate staff writer at the Cascade responsible for writing content that resonates with the masses. Currently, I am pursuing business administration, but deep down, I am a person who loves expressing herself through writing.
