One of our rare opinion posts, but we feel it is necessary purely because our systems aren't designed to cope with the sheer amount of evidence overload that this issue has brought up. Claims about Trump doing something in 2020, Biden doing something in 2025, but it's not going through. We decided to start from the beginning and paint the timeline of what actually happened in regard to why TikTok and other apps were banned for a few hours in the USA.

Context & Timeline

To begin, you need to understand some context of why TikTok was being banned in the first place. In this section we're going to go into actions that empowered the President to begin proceedings on banning the app.

In January 2019, an investigation by the American think tank Peterson Institute for International Economics described TikTok as a "Huawei-sized problem" that posed a national security threat to the West because of the app's popularity with Western users.

In response to national security, censorship, and anti-boycott compliance concerns, in October 2019, Senator Marco Rubio asked the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to open an investigation into TikTok and ByteDance.

The same month, Senators Tom Cotton and Chuck Schumer sent a joint letter to the Director of National Intelligence requesting a security review of TikTok and ByteDance.

With Chuck Schumer joining the fight, we could now see this being a cross-party issue, meaning it's more likely to get attention.

In July 2020, the United States Department of the Treasury announced that TikTok was under CFIUS review. It is important to note that Donald Trump was President in July 2020

On July 7, 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the government was considering banning TikTok

It's important to note at this point, we still aren't entirely sure why Trump of all people wanted to ban TikTok so much. Based on our reading it is largely believed that it is mostly due to the GenZ audience that TikTok had back in 2020 making fun of his comments around injecting bleach and the memes that were generated laughing at him during his time in office.

We're assuming that due to the dynamic shift in audience on TikTok (Tate brothers proving it can work wonders for the right wing) that he now realizes it's a powerful tool and hence wants to keep it around. There is also belief that his son Bannon has been the driver on a lot of policy changes regarding social media. That's really the only assumption you can make when someone claims something is a national security issue, makes a big stink about it, then wins the election and decides "Actually I like this now". The comparison we would bring is when Trump said there was voter fraud in Pennsylvania, then won the state.

Timeline of Shutdown

On July 31, 2020, President Donald Trump announced a decision ordering China's ByteDance to divest ownership of the application, and threatened to shut down its U.S. operations through executive action as soon as August 1 if the company did not comply.

On August 1, ByteDance—which initially sought to maintain a minority interest in a sale to a U.S. buyer—agreed to divest TikTok outright to prevent a ban in the United States. This came with complications however as the deal was meant to be with Microsoft and things didn't pan out the way either party wanted. Trump reportedly agreed to a 45 day hold while Microsoft figured out the deal.

On August 6, Trump signed an executive order banning the platform in 45 days if it were not sold by ByteDance

On August 14, Trump issued a new executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell or spin off its U.S. TikTok business.

On August 21, TikTok announced plans to file legal action

On September 18 that the U.S. would proceed with its ban on TikTok downloads on September 20, followed by a complete ban of using the app on November 12.

On September 19, TikTok and ByteDance filed a complaint in Washington, challenging the Trump Administration's recent moves to prevent the app from operating in the U.S., citing that the administration did so for political reasons.

On September 23, TikTok filed a request for a preliminary injunction to prevent the app from being banned by the Trump Administration. This was approved.

Donald Trump left office January 20, 2021. The following June, new president Joe Biden signed an executive order revoking the Trump Administration's ban on TikTok.

It is very important for people to understand at this point. The Trump Ban saga is over. He failed to have TikTok banned, and we're now beginning a new chapter in Bidens Government.

Biden Administration on TikTok

In June 2021 Joe Biden orders the Secretary of Commerce to investigate the app to determine if it poses a threat to U.S. national security

On June 24 and June 28, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr (appointed by Donald Trump) called for Google and Apple to remove TikTok from their app stores, citing national security concerns

In November, Senators Mark Warner(Democrat) and Tom Cotton(Republican) called for greater action against TikTok, while Senator Marco Rubio(Republican) and Representative Mike Gallagher(Republican) announced their intentions to introduce legislation to ban the platform

On December 2, FBI director Chris Wray (Appointed by Trump) warned about the security threats posed by TikTok. In response several states banned the use of TikTok on government devices. Later that month, Congress passed a bill to do the same on federal devices as part of the spending bill for fiscal year 2023.

By late 2022, many Republican and Democratic officials who previously opposed the attempted ban began to change their perspectives, with many coming to the conclusion that Trump's actions were justified.

In March 2024, Trump reversed his position on banning TikTok. This reversal came after Trump's meeting with Jeff Yass, a Republican donor who owns a "significant stake" in ByteDance.

In April 2024, President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, effectively banning TikTok in the U.S. by 2025, unless sold from its parent company

Conclusion

It is pretty clear from the outside that the way this ban happened was far more routine and part of a democratic process than the previous. It for starters was done through a bill which Biden signed, whereas Trump was done via executive actions and strong-arming openly for everyone to see without being able to get anything passed or anything done. A tale as common as ever through his presidency.

The fact that Biden signed in a bipartisan bill consisting of both republicans and democrats, while Trump didn't do anything is testament to the leadership and work that Biden achieved under his Presidency. Whether you agree or disagree with the ban, one thing remains. Biden actually did it instead of "Truthing" about it on some social media site.

TikTok and Trump Coordination

On January 18th, TikTok released a statement

Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19.

Hours after the suspension of services took effect, President-elect Donald Trump indicated on Truth Social that he would issue an executive order on the day of his inauguration "to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect".

The problem is, as per the bill the three critera for extending the period of time haven't been met yet.

The law states the president can grant a one-time extension delaying the ban for up to 90 days under three very specific conditions:

TikTok must show it's on a "path to executing" a divesture from its Chinese owner;

there must be "evidence of significant progress" toward a sale;

and that progress must be sealed with "relevant binding legal agreements."

Trump at this time has not indicated what any of those are, bar him saying that he'd like the US government was going to purchase half the company. That's a monumental position shift.

On January 19, TikTok began restoring service. In a post on X, they stated that Trump provided "assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties". It is again unclear how Trump has been able to guarantee those service provider

CBS News states

Barring a sale or Congress overturning the law, there's no long-term certainty about TikTok's future in the U.S. If Trump or a future president declines to enforce the law, companies like Apple and Google could still face steep fines in the future. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-voluntarily-shuts-down-in-u-s-divest-or-ban-law-set-to-take-effect/

This was the message that greeted all US users when they opened the app. TikTok a company once being harassed by the Trump administration, and having to fight in the courts legally to stay open. It was now thanking the President for being the one to keep their service intact. Despite the public and the courts, and the legal system having zero expectations for what is going to happen, whether companies will be fined as the statute of limitations is 5 years, and whether Trump actually has the legal ability to extend the deadline for 90 days without having met the criteria.

The only conclusions you can pull from this. Is it's entirely a stunt to increase Trumps support given he will be president the next 4 years and TikTok believes that buddying with Trump is their only card they can play to get the law overturned. That requires Trump convincing Americans and the congress that TikTok isn't a national security threat, despite for years saying it was.

2025 is off to a roaring start, it seems.