The United States saw a TikTok ban that lasted 12 hours. When U.S. users gained access to the social media site, they were greeted with the message “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
Since U.S. users have been back, there has been speculation regarding what was done with the app during the 12-hour black out period.
“I mean, I think it is super fishy that the app went dark and now, like, Meta has an account,” a first-year Fanshawe student said. “I personally haven’t noticed anything weird, but I wouldn’t put it past the U.S. government to do something with the app.”
U.S. users took to TikTok to criticize the app, saying something is off.
“This is no longer our TikTok, there are too many grubby little hands and billionaires and movement and shifts and all this stuff,” TikTok user, Dillon Brooks said in a video.
Credit: Dillon Brooks
Brooks is among other users who think the government, meta or another source effected the app during the U.S. black out. However, no hard evidence has been provided, according to Tech Journalist, Carmi Levy.
“It is just that, a conspiracy theory, and certainly, if there were, you know, evidence of direct US involvement, I would be writing and speaking about it,” Levy continued. “It is entirely likely that TikTok itself used the opportunity when the app was down to apply updates to do maintenance that wouldn’t otherwise be possible when the app is working.”
A quick search on Google also shows that the app itself is still owned by ByteDance and has not yet been sold.
No matter how the app has changed, Canadian users will not see those same effects, according to Levy.
“It’s important for us to, you know, mention or at least recognize that all of these changes that we’re talking about will apply only in the U.S.,” Levy said. “There will be sort of one regime in the US and one outside of the U.S., and so the technology that runs TikTok outside of the US will be unchanged.”
President Trump has delayed the ban on the social media app, giving ByteDance another 75 days to sell TikTok before another U.S. ban would be put in place.
