The Supreme Court upheld Congress’s law banning the popular social media platform TikTok on Jan. 17. The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, signed by President Biden in April 2024, would force the app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, to be sold to an American company. However, on Jan. 16, the Biden administration announced they wouldn’t enforce the ban for the remainder of his term and would allow President-elect Donald Trump to decide whether or not to ban the app.
The bill was authored in March 2024 by Republican Representative Mike Gallagher from Wisconsin and Democrat Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois, gaining bipartisan support. Lawmakers fear that the Chinese government will surveil and obtain data from the app’s American users via its algorithm in order to spread misinformation, threatening national security. The law states that if the app is not sold by Jan. 19, it will be banned in the United States. TikTok had challenged the law in court, arguing that banning the platform is a violation of the First Amendment.
63 percent of teenagers are TikTok users, according to Pew Research, including many Niles North students. Sophomore Cameron Agbodza, who enjoys comedy videos on TikTok, expressed her concern for the app being banned.
“I feel like I’ll probably be more bored and not know what to do with my free time at all,” Agbodza said.
Senior Kieran Tu expressed similar concerns.
“I just spent so much time on Tiktok, and it’s like, when I open my phone, it’s like muscle memory to just go to TikTok and start scrolling,” Tu said. “And it’s gonna [feel] a little awkward.”
While many students fear the deletion of the platform, others don’t believe the end is anytime soon.
“I thought it was fake, because we said that during quarantine, and then now we’re saying it again,” senior Ilona Mami said. “Literally, it’s an every month thing, so I don’t believe it.”
TikTok’s fate is now in the hands of Trump once he’s sworn in on Jan. 20. Trump has become increasingly more supportive of the platform after winning the 2024 election.
