TikTok, one of the most popular apps amongst teens, almost disappeared in the United States; but a controversial deal changed it all.
TikTok’s struggles initiated in the U.S. in 2020, during President Trump’s first term, when U.S. authorities attempted to force the app to turn away from its Chinese company, ByteDance, after it was considered a national security risk.
In April 2024, Congress passed a law that would ban TikTok in the United States if ByteDance failed to sell its U.S. operations to U.S. owners by January 19, 2025. The law specified that TikTok in the U.S. needed to break off all relations to ByteDance. TikTok then sued the United States government, but the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ban.
The application went offline for about 12 hours on January 18, 2025, the day before the ban was to come into effect. The platform was restored after then President-elect Donald Trump promised he would extend the deadline once in office. Trump extended the deadline via an executive order on January 20, the day he was sworn in for his second term. Then, he signed executive orders routinely to continue putting off the ban.
According to Pew Research Center, American’s support for a TikTok ban dropped from 50% in spring 2023 to 34% in 2025; the share of people who also saw TikTok as a national security threat also decreased in that period.
Republicans were more likely than Democrats to support a ban in 2025 (39% vs. 30%). But, support still declined in both parties.
On January 22, 2026, the infamous social media platform reached an agreement with investors to launch an independent entity, exclusive to the United States, allowing it to avoid a nation-wide ban after a yearslong disagreement over access to the app for millions of Americans.
In a press release, TikTok said its new U.S. strategic alliance “will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for U.S. users.”
Starting January 22, the agreement creates a United States exclusive version of TikTok, which will be controlled by investment companies, many being American-based, and several associated with President Trump.
President Donald Trump celebrated the closing of the deal in a social media post saying, “I am so happy to have helped in saving TikTok! It will now be owned by a group of Great American Patriots and Investors.”
The agreement is not expected to have any dramatic shifts, but subtle changes can be expected over time. One of the most key points made in the decision-making process was what would happen to TikTok’s addictive algorithm. The new United States establishment will simply “retrain” TikTok’s algorithm using data from American users, while Oracle claims to oversee and secure that data. Because the algorithm is under new control, this could lead to possible changes in how the user’s feed is personalized.
Freshman Rachel Park said, “I don’t think I could deal with a TikTok ban. I remember deleting it during the last ban and not being able to get it back, which was upsetting. Even though it only lasted 12 hours, I realized how dependent I’ve become to addictive apps, like TikTok.”
Freshman Sophia Lopez said, “I don’t support banning TikTok. If I truly thought it was dangerous I would just delete it myself.”
