It's official: TikTok is banned in the United States ... or was? Or ... will be? It's gotten complicated.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court upheld the ban. As a result, at around 9:30 PM central time yesterday, TikTok voluntarily began shutting down its services in the U.S. Here is the message it displayed when users tried to access the app.
Over 170 million Americans reportedly use the app. As a result of the ban, TikTok also voluntarily shut off access to its other apps - Capcut, Lemon8, and more.
The U.S. government initially justified the ban because it feared the Chinese government used the app for spying and information-gathering purposes. As a result, TikTok was ordered to separate from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
Then, today, after 14 hours of being offline, TikTok suddenly went live again. Had Trump saved the day? He has extended the deadline for ByteDance to make progress. And instead of asking them to sell TikTok, it seems he's looking for the U.S. to joint venture with the company, and own 50% of the app.
Even though the app still might be banned, news outlets report that Trump plans to throw an olive branch to the Chinese government in hopes of accomplishing broader objectives. In the meantime, TikTok is back online.
I understand what prompted a ban like this. A lot of it comes down to national security interests. China is among the most aggressive nation-state actors focused on cyber warfare and industrial espionage. Their actions are increasingly overt, and I worry Americans have become too desensitized to these threats and their consequences.
We live in interesting times. Nation-state actors and private hackers are perpetrating a new form of exponential tech-enabled warfare. It threatens our infrastructure, government, private sector, intellectual property, trade secrets, and, for individuals, their personal information, tendencies, and even physical security.
I don't believe that anything I've said here is an overreaction. There are many documented cases of hacking attempts, compromise, and malicious coding. It's even more dangerous when done in the open, and we become immune to it.
Ironically, last week, as news spread that the ban was likely to be upheld, many Americans responded by downloading an app called Xiaohongshu (or Rednote). Rednote is a Chinese social media app and e-commerce platform that resembles a blend of Pinterest and TikTok.
Many TikTok refugees have already begun using the app earnestly – and interacting more directly with their Chinese counterparts. There are jokes about being Chinese spies, Americans helping Chinese students with their English homework, pet pictures shared, inquiries into each other's cultures, and even questions about whether aspects of U.S. or Chinese propaganda are true.
Duolingo said Thursday that the number of U.S. users trying to learn Mandarin has rocketed 216% compared to last year. Many Chinese users have also added English subtitles to their videos and created explainer videos to help Americans navigate the Mandarin-based interface better.
While it is a surprisingly wholesome interaction, it is likely the opposite of what our government intended. It's very similar to the (Barbara) Streisand Effect, which is an unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove, or censor information; such efforts often increase public awareness of the information instead.
But it's unlikely this Xiaohongshu spring will last. Not only are the national security fears amplified on the app, but China probably doesn't want the American youth influencing its own. Trump has also reversed his earlier position on TikTok and promised to delay and hopefully reverse the ban once he's in office.
While Rednote may use this to bolster their value pre-IPO, it's unlikely they're willing to upset local regulators. So, you will likely see Americans siloed or kicked off the app and gently nudged back on TikTok.
You may take this whole debacle as naivety from the American youth, but I would say the opposite—it's cynicism. They likely believe the cost of their digital existence is giving up their data to Big Tech, advertisers, and the authorities. At this point, it likely doesn't matter to them who is the one watching. They know they're being watched.
What do you think? Will TikTok fully come back? Is it a good thing if it does?
