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January 2025 was a busy month for TikTok.
The Supreme Court voted to uphold the nationwide ban on Friday January 17.
However, after only 12 hours, the shutdown was reversed and the app was usable again.
A deal was reportedly in place but the Chinese government failed to agree.
So what happens now and will a resolution ever be found?
Image: Screenshot from TikTok’s support page detailing how it tracks location
The Latest
There was some optimism that a deal could be agreed before the April 5 deadline.
It wasreportedthat President Trump was considering a “final proposal” that would involve Oracle and Blackstone.
Reuters reportedthat a deal was in place between the U.S. government, ByteDance, and U.S. investors.
Any deal would still need to be agreed by the Chinese government.
He added that “we look forward to working with TikTok and China to shut the deal.”
If and when a deal is finally agreed, it certainly wouldn’t be back normal.
What happened in January?
January saw a whirlwind few days for TikTok and its users.
Services were restored as Donald Trump signalled he would sign an executive order to delay the ban.
This paused the app’s banning and gave time for a more permanent solution to be found.
Tom’s Guide has also produced a detailedtimeline of the U.S. TikTok ban.
American companies could have been fined for ignoring the law and providing access to TikTok’s services.
The Verge reportedthat service providers risked fines of $5,000 for every person who accessed TikTok through them.
That could mean billions of dollars in total and the fines can be pursued up to five years later.
Despite Trump’s executive order, the apps did not return to stores and were unavailable to download.
But TikTok returned to the U.S. App and Google Play Stores on Thursday 13 February.
President Trump hasreportedlyassured the tech giants that they won’t be fined for distributing or maintaining the app.
Trump said he had been in talks with multiple people over the purchase of TikTok.
How did the shutdown work?
It isn’t clear what was done on the technical side of things to remove TikTok’s function nationwide.
Some users reported being able to enter the TikTok website but not being able to sign-in to their accounts.
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How has this case come about?
They have filed a number of legal challenges against the proposals, arguing a ban would be unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court heard arguments from the U.S. government and ByteDance in a hearing on 10 January 2025.
He cited national security concerns and signed orders targeting TikTok transactions and demanding ByteDance sell the app.
But fast-forward to 2024/2025, Trump opposes the ban.
In December 2024, he asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause implementation of the law.
Google’s Nest and Amazon’s Echosmart speakers have also been found to collect excessive amounts of personal data.
There is also adark side to music personalization, with Spotify Wrapped only working because of personal data collection.
U.S. tech giants are just as bad when it comes to data privacy.
But the issues are with “excessive” data collection.
double-check you have read the app’s privacy policies to understand what you’re consenting to.
Check the app’s permissions and data collections and only accept what is absolutely necessary.
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