TikTok's controversial path in the country

TikTok has had a controversial run in the country. These days will be decisive to know, with the Supreme Court decision, whether it will continue to operate in the country or if Americans will have to say goodbye to the digital platform.

But what have been the milestones that have marked the path of the social network in the United States?

The journey began in 2018, when ByteDance, a Chinese company, launched TikTok to the global market after acquiring Musical.ly, a popular platform in the United States. In 2019, TikTok became one of the most downloaded apps in the world.

Then, the Army banned its members from using TikTok on government devices. Authorities cited national security concerns, per trade magazine Military.com.

Meanwhile, several lawmakers began to raise concerns and investigate more about enforcement and national security. It is in this way, as in 2020, that then-President Donald Trump led the initial effort to ban TikTok with an executive order.

"He pushed for an acquisition by Microsoft, which fell through. Software giant Oracle then made a bid to become TikTok's ‘trusted technology partner’ in the U.S. After much pressure, TikTok agreed to protect U.S. data through an alliance with Oracle," recalled Axios.

Project Texas and the situation during the Biden administration

In 2022, the well-known Project Texas was kicked off. TikTok began storing all of its U.S. users' data in Oracle's cloud. In that regard, it was learned that Oracle began examining TikTok's algorithms and content moderation models to ensure that they were not being manipulated by the Chinese regime's authorities.

"Project Texas is an unprecedented initiative dedicated to making every U.S. user on TikTok feel safe, providing them with confidence that their data is secure and the operation of the platform is free from outside influence," the platform explained on its official page.

Subsequently, the Biden administration banned the app on federal devices in February 2023. Meanwhile, the app's CEO, Shou Zi Chew, defended the company in a hearing before lawmakers.

Finally, in April 2024, Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill forcing TikTok's Chinese parent company to end its U.S. operations or face a domestic ban.

The bill, signed by President Joe Biden, sets Jan. 19 as the deadline for the social network's parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to another owner.

After a legal battle, on Dec. 6, 2024, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the law, which requires TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance or be banned, is constitutional. In doing so, it rejected the company's arguments that the rule violated the First Amendment, just days before the law goes into effect.

A three-judge panel ruled that the law does not violate the First Amendment.

Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has been in favor of keeping the platform operating in the country. Recently, he assured that he has no intention of shutting down TikTok in the United States and asked the Department of Justice to give him time to seek a solution to the situation.

"Why would I want to get rid of TikTok?" Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. He accompanied the message with an image showing the statistics of his accounts.

According to the image posted by the president-elect, his personal account has received 1.4 billion total views on the video-sharing app and records 24 million views per post on average.