After taking office, President Trump granted social media platform, TikTok, a 75-day extension to allow its parent company, ByteDance, more time to sell the platform to a U.S. approved buyer, or face a ban by the U.S. government.
With over 170 million U.S. users of the platform, concerns of national security have been raised, claiming that users’ data can be sold to the Chinese government. Many Midtown students, being the target demographic of the app’s users, will be impacted by this.
“I use TikTok every day after both school and work, and on the weekends,” senior Violet Fitzgerald said. “I think the data being stolen is really scary, but I think the ban is not needed.”
The ban will prohibit app stores and web hosting companies, such as Apple’s App Store and Google’s Google Play store, from being available to Americans and receiving updates to fix bugs, which will degrade the app and render it obsolete over time.
“I’m conflicted in the sense that I’m not on social media [and] I don’t like social media,” Spanish teacher Sylvia Riet said. “At the same time, I don’t know if banning TikTok is the right thing to do in the sense that you either have free speech or you don’t, and I don’t think it’s the government’s place to tell us what we can or can’t use.”
Similar to Facebook and Twitter, TikTok collects large amounts of information about its users, including videos watched, comments written and the content of videos and photos uploaded.
“My data is already out there either way,” sophomore Asher Lieb said. “I’ve been on TikTok for years now; if they wanted to steal my data, they already would have. I understand banking information would be a big deal that they could steal, but I’ve never bought anything off TikTok shop and I’ve never spent any money on TikTok, so the only thing I think they’d have is my name and address. They are not the only apps I have on my phone [taking my data].”
While data being spread to other governments via TikTok is a concern, Riet has pointed to other apps that may be doing the same.
“Everyone mines our data, everyone sells our data,” Riet said. “As soon as you get online, you’ve given away your data. Anytime you go online, you have to make the assumption that someone is using your information, so with that in mind, you just have to be responsible with the things you do.”
Like many other social media platforms, TikTok also acts as a communication platform, leaving many younger users with one less option to communicate with friends.
“A lot of my friends send me videos every single day,” Lieb said. “Among those are people who live in different states or go to different schools. TikTok is one of the few ways I talk to them on a daily basis. One of my friends lives in Florida and we have a 100-day streak on TikTok. I’m sure we’ll find other ways to communicate, but TikTok getting banned would be a big hit on some of my friends that I’m not physically close with.”
Fitzgerald agrees with Lieb, saying that she and her friends have enjoyed using the platform to communicate and share videos.
“I will feel much less connected with my friends because I send TikToks to my friends all the time and making TikToks with my friends is something I’ve been doing since 6th grade,” Fitzgerald said. “I love making TikToks with friends. I feel like it really connects people.”
Looking for alternatives, TikTok users have seeked entertainment platforms to replace the app. RedNote, being one of the most well-known alternatives, was the most downloaded free application on January 13th, 2025.
“A lot of [influencers] right now are switching platforms,” Riet said. “They’re going to RedNote or Lemon8. The ironic part about it is that these are also Chinese companies. For some people, [TikTok] has become a legitimate business for them…and the government needs to stay out of this.”
Others, such as sophomore McKensie Dunn, may not follow the RedNote path, but will instead increase their use of other social media apps they already have, such as Instagram and Snapchat.
“I don’t think I put too much information on TikTok where it could affect me that much,” Dunn said. “I might be on Instagram more, but eventually get tired a find a whole [new] app.”
TikTok, being in the top five leading social media platforms, holds significant influence over many people. Misinformation perpetually circulates social media platforms, leaving some to wonder how the circulation of information will be affected by the upcoming ban.
“I’ve seen just as much misinformation on Instagram, and I think TikTok actually does a good job monitoring it,” Lieb said. “There’s misinformation everywhere, we can’t just single out TikTok because it reaches the most people.”
To resolve this frenzy, other US-approved groups have sought to purchase the application, such as Project Liberty and Microsoft.
“There have been multiple businesses who have proposed buying TikTok,” Fitzgerald said. “I think these companies should have the option to buy and remove the data leaking, and bring back the fun, creative app TikTok used to be back in 2018.”
After the implementation of Yondr pouches for student’s phones during school, further restrictions on technology have impacted students in many ways, both positive and negative.
“I know that a lot of students know that it’s best not to be on their phones, but it’s difficult to curve it,” Riet said. “I think students are more engaged with each other and they are definitely more engaged with me. I don’t know that it affects school so much in the sense that we don’t have the technology [students’ phones]. I think if you had the technology, [students] are going a different way; if it’s not TikTok, it’ll be something else.”
