On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would allow a government-run sovereign wealth fund to be used to aid economic development and potentially purchase TikTok. The goal of the fund is to promote fiscal sustainability and lessen the tax burden on small businesses and American families while providing economic security to future generations.
Currently, TikTok is the most downloaded app in the world, according to Statista. Many people are attracted to its unique algorithm, allowing users to be shown videos they might enjoy based on past activity, ultimately encouraging binge-watching, as noted by The Associated Press.
According to a report done by Oxford Economics, TikTok has stimulated economic growth for more than 7 million businesses and has supported more than 224,000 American jobs.
In addition to TikTok's economic impact, it has become something people rely on for entertainment, information and even news. Joey Maldonado, a senior studying management and supply chain management, is a frequent TikTok user and said the app should be used because it can act as a way to communicate issues to niche areas that may not be in mainstream media.
Maldonado said he credits TikTok for allowing him access to resources that helped his professional growth. In his freshman year, Maldonado would turn to the app for assistance in improving his resume, interview skills and his LinkedIn profile.
Although TikTok has positively impacted many students' lives, U.S. officials believe it poses a national security threat due to parent company ByteDance's ties to the Chinese government.
2017
Two years after Musical.ly, a social media app, reached the No. 1 spot on the Apple application store, it was sold to ByteDance for $1 billion, according to an article by The New York Times. The company was well known for apps such as Toutiao, a Chinese news and content platform founded by the company's former CEO Zhang Yiming.
With ByteDance as the new owner of Musical.ly, the app was merged into TikTok and brought together Toutiao's estimated 120 million Chinese users and nearly 60 million Musical.ly users between the United States and Europe, according to The New York Times article.
2019
In September, democracy protests in Hong Kong gained traction on multiple social media platforms except TikTok. However, ByteDance stated the app's content moderation in the U.S. was not responsible and the app is a place for entertainment and not politics, according to AP.
Later in October, Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury asking for a "full and thorough national security review of TikTok's acquisition of Musical.ly." Throughout the statement, Rubio expressed concern about China using TikTok to advance its foreign policy agenda and control freedom of speech.
Alongside Rubio, Sen. Tom Cotton and Sen. Chuck Schumer believed TikTok carried national security risks and that the company was bound to follow Chinese law of providing information to the government if asked. U.S. officials feared TikTok’s ability to carry out a foreign influence campaign like Russia did in the 2016 U.S. elections via Facebook.
2020
In an interview with Gray Television's Greta Van Susteren, Trump said he was considering a TikTok ban, according to AP. Trump was not clear about the ban and the details of its enactment simply suggesting it would be a form of exacting retribution to China over COVID-19.
"It's a big business. Look, what happened with China with this virus, what they've done to this country and to the entire world is disgraceful," Trump said.
Early in August, the president ordered a ban on commerce with Chinese owners of WeChat and TikTok. According to the AP, the order took legal authority from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act. The order had a Sept. 15 deadline for TikTok to shut off or sell to an American company like Microsoft.
Later, Trump used his emergency authority under a 1977 law that allows the president to "regulate international commerce to address unusual threats," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.
Trump gave TikTok 90 days to sell or dispose of any assets used to maintain TikTok in the U.S., including any user data.
On Aug. 24, TikTok sued the Trump administration claiming the Aug. 6 order "violated TikTok's Fifth Amendment due-process right by giving it no 'notice or opportunity to be heard,'" according to AP.
TikTok insisted the order had yet to prove "an unusual and extraordinary threat" needed by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to be used.
In November, former President Joe Biden was elected president and gave no insight to where he would take Trump's order. The Trump administration was unable to pressure a sale of TikTok and ultimately was forced to abandon the order.
2022
In June, BuzzFeed reported more than 80 internal audio recordings from TikTok employee meetings that proved they had access to sensitive user information.
Later in December, Biden banned the app on the majority of government devices, according to AP.
2023
In February, a deadline of 30 days was given to federal agencies by the White House to guarantee TikTok was deleted from all government-issued devices.
Later, TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew spent five hours at a congressional hearing denying the allegations that TikTok and ByteDance are used as tactics by the Chinese government.
2024
In March, the TikTok ban-or-sell bill was discussed in Congress. Influencers and users showed up to support TikTok, spamming the congressional office with calls to lawmakers. Ultimately the House of Representatives passed the bill, according to AP.
The Senate approved the bill and sent it off to Biden who signed it in April. The bill demanded that ByteDance sell to a U.S. company or face a national ban.
In May, ByteDance and TikTok sued the U.S. federal government claiming the law is unconstitutional, according to AP.
On Dec. 6, a unanimous vote from a federal appeals court upheld the law.
On Dec. 27, after being elected, Trump asked the Supreme Court to postpone the potential ban until he took office. Trump said he believes his administration can find a "political resolution," according to AP.
2025
On Jan. 9, TikTok's future was in discussion as the ban law was presented to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court upheld the law that is set to ban TikTok unless it agrees to sell on Jan. 17. The court decided that the potential national security risk outweighs the argument of limiting speech. The ban was set to be enacted on Jan. 19.
On Jan. 18, hours before the ban was set to activate U.S. users were no longer able to use TikTok. A message banner appeared for all users stating, "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S., unfortunately that means you can't use TikTok for now." The app was also removed from the Apple and Google app stores.
A day later, TikTok was back online due to Trump's promise of allowing ByteDance another 75-day period to find a buyer. By the afternoon a new banner appeared reading, "As a result of President Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!" according to AP.
Ford Davenport, a freshman studying economics, said he never downloaded TikTok because he does not enjoy short-form content.
Davenport said he believes President Trump switched stances regarding TikTok because postponing the ban would gain favor with youth aiding his public image and election results.
"I don't think it's a case of his values changing, I think it's a case of him being an opportunist and capitalizing off of that," Davenport said.
A possible deal where the U.S. becomes a partner of TikTok using a government-run sovereign wealth fund pushed by Trump's administration, according to CNBC, may be the apps last opportunity to stay in the U.S.
ByteDance has repeatedly refused to sell, and U.S. officials have not wavered their stance on banning the app if it's not sold. The app is still removed from the Apple and Google app stores. Unless one side budges, U.S. users will have to find another app to doom scroll on.
The app has since returned to Google and Apple app stories as of Feb. 13.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 12:24 p.m. on Feb. 16 to reflect TikTok's current status on app stores.
Edited by Senna James, Abigail Beck and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at nrodri74@asu.edu.
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Natalia is a sophomore studying journalism and mass communication with a minor in creative writing. This is her second semester at The State Press.
