For the first time in the past five years, millions of American TikTok users were abruptly informed on Saturday night that their favorite app had been shut down and prohibited.
President-elect Donald Trump, who assumes office on Monday, declared he would restore U.S. access on Sunday, ending the restriction, which had been in place for less than 24 hours.
However, TikTok has captured the attention of almost half of all Americans, and by the time the app was back up, many users had already begun to think about life without it.
On social networking platform X, several people thanked Trump or shared heartfelt farewells as they returned to share their opinions on the sudden shutdown. The experience on TikTok would never be the same, according to some.
“Are we coming back, but at what price?” One user pondered on the website.
In contrast to his first time in office, Trump reversed course by attempting to salvage ByteDance’s TikTok.
Because of worries that the corporation would provide the Chinese government access to Americans’ personal information, he sought to outlaw the short-video app in 2020.
In a recent statement, Trump claimed to have “a warm spot in my heart for TikTok” and credited the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 election.
Before a law that shut down TikTok on national security concerns went into effect on Sunday, the app ceased functioning for U.S. users late on Saturday.
“We can reach an agreement to safeguard our national security, so we can extend the time before the law’s prohibitions take effect,” Trump declared.
In a joint venture, he stated, “I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position,” on his Truth Social platform.
While some users are relieved, others question whether the TikTok experience would ultimately change as a result of the company’s ownership structure change.
“I recall how drastically the acquisition of Twitter by Elon changed public opinion and the way users engaged with the service.
Regarding the acquisition of the social media platform now known as X by billionaire Elon Musk, Kelly Sites, 38, said, “So that gives me a lot of concern.”
“I don’t want the algorithm’s magic to change,” stated Sites, a Kansas City, Kansas-based part-time content maker.
According to Reuters in April, the algorithms that TikTok uses to run its business are considered essential to ByteDance’s overall operations, making a sale of the app with algorithms extremely difficult.
Some users, especially those who make a living from TikTok, complain that their faith in the government will never be the same, even if there are still concerns about the platform’s future.
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“This is a very sad time in history,” said Richard “Chuck” Fasulo, 37, a Duchess County, New York, technician and auto influencer.
According to Fasulo, who spoke to Reuters, the program enabled him to pay off his debt, more than double his income, and send his family on their first summer vacation.
The prospect of losing the business opportunities that the app offered him was not something he enjoyed.
“I think that I, along with many others, have developed a great deal of contempt for the U.S. government,” said Fasulo, who has roughly 400,000 supporters.
However, relief, regardless of its source, is what matters to others.
Charlotte Warren, 31, a dating and relationships video maker from Austin, Texas, told Reuters that she would rather pull a political stunt than lose TikTok permanently.
She claimed she might lose over 200,000 followers, up to $60,000 in yearly revenue, and she wasn’t sure whether she would keep sharing content on other platforms if TikTok disappeared.
“I simply wanted my app returned.”
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