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Word on the Street: 13 hours without TikTok

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Sophomore Sadie Moore recounts her 13 hours without TikTok in front of the Student Union on Jan. 27, 2025.

Since its introduction internationally in 2016, TikTok has become a popular social media site for college students. Indeed, the largest age demographic on TikTok is 18-24. But in April of 2024, Congress signed into law the Protecting American from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act which would force TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the app or shut it down within 270 days based on alleged concerns about data privacy and propaganda.

On the night of Jan. 18, users received this message: “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok right now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”

The next day TikTok was functioning again. 

How did UNC students react to the ban?

Hussain Hassan, first-year computer science, math major

I was happy at first, actually, because I was actually started using my time more wisely.”

Kiersten McIntyre, first-year philosophy, political science double major

“It was really weird. Obviously, muscle memory, I kept trying to go back to it, right? It was just, I don't know, it was taken away so quickly, but then it was given back so quickly, and it felt weird after.”

Louis Lee III, sophomore biology major

“So, I deleted TikTok, and, you know, I realized that was kind of a mistake. I was missing out on a lot. I had a little bit of FOMO, so I found a way to re-download it, and I switched my phone information to Canada, and I switched everything to Canada. I downloaded a VPN, and I was able to re-download TikTok, so the ban was kind of pointless, especially with them letting people get it back, so that was really interesting.”

“I just feel like you're silencing a lot of voices by deleting social media that a lot of people use.”

Kira Tiller, first-year political science major

“Ever since a lot of people started posting critical content about the U.S. involvement in funding Israel and posting about Gaza, there was definitely a lot more concern after people started posting about that from TikTok. And so I think that that was — whether people admit it or not — I think that was definitely a contributing factor to the banning of TikTok.”

Sadie Moore, sophomore biology major

“There was just a lot happening that didn't make sense to me. I knew it was a ploy, so I just didn't care. I really didn't. I don't post anything or even on my other social media accounts. I don't really give out a lot of my personal information, so I'm not worried about it, and the whole national security thing just caught me off-guard.”

Olivia Allen, senior human development and family science major

“I wasn't really that surprised because I knew it was something that had been discussed a lot, especially during Trump's presidency, so I figured it was kind of inevitable. But I was surprised that it had ended up making its way so far decision-wise, if that makes sense. I feel like there was so much discussion about it for so long, so it was kind of shocking that there ended up actually being a ban.”

Arya Ranjan, junior business major

Another business point is, will someone come and buy it out? Which would be very huge for the markets overall. And also, I think it strengthens the current hierarchy of tech and whoever the business tycoons are out there. So from the [business] angle, it was also interesting to see if anyone gets their hands on it, and if it becomes more privatized.”

Anna Riddle, senior media and journalism major

I think I was looking forward [to] influencer culture toned down a little bit, just because I feel like we've made such unrealistic standards. And as a society, I feel like we can misconstrue, you know, see things on the internet, and take it and inherit it one way when, in reality people's lives aren't actually as they are on the internet.”

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@dthlifestyle | lifestyle@dailytarheel.com

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