The national ban on TikTok caused the app to go dark for over 10 hours before it was accessible again Jan. 19, impacting small businesses that rely on the app.
As per President Donald Trump’s executive order on Jan. 20, TikTok is available to U.S. residents for 75 days. This comes after the app was down for a few hours on Jan. 18-19 with the following text displayed when users opened the app, “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.
Formerly known as Musical.ly and rebranded in 2017 when Bytedance bought it, TikTok is a social media application and platform that allows users to create, view and interact with short-form videos, carousels and live streams. With an approximate 170 million U.S. users according to TikTok Inc v. Garland, the app became a place for users to learn and connect, especially college-age students.
David Calderon is a barber at Kings Korner at 249 North LBJ St., and started using TikTok to reach a wider audience and client base in 2021. Calderon’s TikTok account @wavydavii has over 35,000 followers and he said it has changed his life.
“The effect was crazy; I was charging like $30 a haircut, and within a one-and-a-half to two-year time frame, I was able to go up and charge $75,” Calderon said. “I was making probably about $2,000 a month, and I make close to like 10k a month now.”
According to Calderon, out of his approximate 30 clients a week, only a few are from San Marcos and the rest travel from neighboring cities. He said if the ban is upheld after the extension, he doesn’t think his local clients will increase and he would still rely on clients traveling to him.
Stephanie Valdez, interior design senior, has over 14,000 followers on TikTok and focuses her content on college life at Texas State. Valdez said the majority of her audience are Texas State students.
“I’ve been able to connect with a lot of students and help them in terms of giving them advice on things to do as a student and how to put themselves out there, how to get involved on campus,” Valdez said.
Calderon said the TikTok ban made him realize he needed to diversify his content over multiple platforms, but still believes TikTok is crucial for consumers and businesses.
Valdez said young adults prefer going to TikTok for questions, recipes or issues other than Google because the short videos make it easier to use by keeping viewers engaged.
“If I have any questions about how to do something, how to make this certain recipes or fashion advice, I immediately go to Tiktok and scroll to research and educate myself that way,” Valdez said. “I’m also a visual person, so being able to see like a quick 30-second video on how to make a recipe is a lot quicker than reading a whole essay on Google.”
Valdez acknowledged using TikTok can cause some negative habits, like how she gets stuck doom scrolling instead of doing homework, but she has seen how her content has inspired her peers.
According to Valdez, she doesn’t plan on moving to another social media platform if the ban is upheld, but TikTok has helped her grow as a person.
“Freshman year I was very shy and introverted, and it took a lot of time for me to come out of my comfort zone, so with TikTok, I’ve been able to be more outgoing and connect with more people and grow my community,” Valdez said.
However, since December 2022 students, faculty and staff could not access TikTok on any Texas-owned device or while connected to Texas State’s Wi-Fi as per Gov. Greg Abbott’s order.
Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act into law April 2024. The law prohibits mobile application stores like Google or Apple from hosting applications controlled by a foreign adversary. TikTok’s parent company Bytedance is Chinese owned.
The Supreme Court upheld the TikTok ban in TikTok v. Garland. In a unanimous decision, the Court acknowledged that the ban could restrict users’ freedom of expression. However, it prioritized concerns over China’s relationship with the U.S. and the potential risk of China accessing U.S. user data, over the potential limitations to the First Amendment.
“When people say it might be a violation of their First Amendment rights, they’re really talking about the access to information, so [the ruling] doesn’t mean that [the TikTok ban] isn’t constitutional, but it’s open for interpretation,” Gilbert Martinez, professor of instruction in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication said.
Trump set a 75-day deadline for the app with the condition that the U.S. government get 50% ownership of the app. Until then, TikTok is not available to download on the App Store or Google Store.
