[Photo courtesy of Dan Kitwood]

By Dylan Thatcher, Features Editor

Late Saturday night, the sensationalizing social media app, TikTok, was officially shut down for users in the U.S. However, at noon on Sunday, American TikTok users reported that access to the app had been restored despite the ban, according to The New York Times. 

Users were greeted with the following message upon returning to the app: “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the US!”

Read more: Neil Young shares “big change”, featuring new band, the Chrome Hearts

In April, 2024, President Biden signed a bipartisan law which forced TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the app to an American company or face a nation-wide ban for reasons of national security. The Supreme Court upheld the law last Wednesday.

The Biden Administration has stated that President-elect Donald Trump will be left to enforce the law, according to CNN. Trump has suggested that he will work to remove the ban and has even invited the Chief Executive of TikTok, Shou Chew, as a guest of honor at his inauguration on Monday.

It is no secret that TikTok has been a catalyst for many up-and-coming musicians. Ahead of the planned January 19 ban, Tatiana Cirisano, a music industry analyst working for Midia Research, stated that there was a sense of “marketing apocalypse” in the music industry, according to The Business Times. 

With TikTok back online in the U.S. following President Trump’s inauguration, concerns over the app’s future in the U.S. may subside for now.