It’s almost here! 17th September is the TikTok ban deadline, so will it disappear again?!

Five years ago, Donald Trump announced he was considering a TikTok ban. There’s been loads of legal back and forth between the US government and TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. In January, TikTok was temporarily not useable for American users, before Trump delayed the ban. The next deadline for a ban decision in the United States is the 17th September. But what’s actually going to happen?

Is TikTok being banned on the 17th September?

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump extended the deadline for a TikTok ban for a third time. In 2024, a law was passed by Congress that said if ByteDance don’t sell TikTok to an American company, it’ll be banned in the country.

While there’s been lots of buzz around companies like Amazon and AppLovin buying TikTok, none of these bids have actually turned into a sale. Trump has previously said there are “loads of investors” interested in buying TikTok, but as of right now, TikTok is very likely to go dark again for American users on the 17th September.

Why does Trump want to ban TikTok?

@vicenews

Republican Senator Tom Cotton repeatedly probed TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who is Singaporean, about being Chinese and part of the “Chinese Communist Party.” #tiktok #shouzichew #singapore #usa #republican #senator #tomcotton #asian #singaporetiktok #american #politics

♬ original sound – VICE News

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese tech company. US authorities believe that Chinese authorities might take advantage of the user data collected through TikTok to spy on US citizens, a claim Beijing has denied. TikTok has over 100 million users based in the States.

In 2023, TikTok Shou Zi Chew went viral after clips of his testimony before Congress were shared across TikTok and Instagram Reels. Shou was grilled on exactly how much data TikTok collects, including whether they track the “dilation” of pupils.

So, about the White House TikTok account…

@whitehouse

Making America Great Again

♬ original sound – The White House

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The TikTok ban is possibly right around the corner, but that hasn’t stopped the US government from making an account. An official White House TikTok profile popped up in August, and now has almost 650k followers. The videos are exactly what you’d expect – lots of pro-Trump videos to viral audios.

Jess Glynne spoke out after the White House’s X account used her Jet2Holiday audio to promote deportation of so-called “illegal immigrants”, saying their use of her song made her feel “sick”.

Featured image by: Solen Feyissa via Unsplash

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