After TikTok voluntarily shut down for United States users Saturday evening before restoring access approximately 12 hours later, Boston University students reflected on the platform’s significance and noticeable shifts in user experience since its brief hiatus.
The fate of the popular short-form video app was tested in 2024 when Congress passed a bill forcing its parent company, Chinese-owned ByteDance, to sell the platform under the threat of a ban. Access to TikTok was restored soon after the ban took effect after President Donald Trump promised to issue an executive order delaying the ban to allow time for a deal.
The threat of a TikTok ban, declared by US government officials as a national security measure, has sparked discourse over free speech, data privacy and implications for organizations that utilize the app for outreach.
BU senior Toby Pannone is not a TikTok user but said he recognizes TikTok’s cultural significance.
“You see a lot of the bleed-over culturally, a lot of things that maybe I don’t know about directly, but I know the references to, or I see them reposted on Instagram or quoted on YouTube,” Pannone said.
Junior Ludovica Pujia, a student from Rome, Italy, said she agrees with the US government’s arguments for banning the app.
“It’s true. Data can be analyzed and gotten from [the] app,” Puija said. “Most of the time, there’s so many people that download an app, and they consent to everything because they just don’t read what they’re consenting to.”
Members of BU student organizations have also considered their group’s reliance on TikTok.
Sophomore Tracianna Walcott is the social media content director for Strike Magazine Boston. She said Strike Boston uses TikTok to promote the publication.
Strike Boston hasn’t discussed contingency plans for a permanent TikTok ban, but the situation will likely result in a focus on Instagram marketing, Walcott said.
She said as a public relations major, she is also concerned about how the platform’s instability could affect her career.
“[Social media is] essentially what I want to do in my career,” Walcott said. “It got me to thinking of what other apps could potentially be at risk. Would I be out of a job or a career in the future?”
TikTok released a statement Sunday after restoring access to US users thanking Trump for his assurance to service providers that they won’t face penalties for providing the app to millions of users and businesses.
“It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship,” the statement said. “We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
Pannone said he viewed the opening message as a political stunt.
“All of the young people who are on the fence about Trump or who don’t really know much about him say, ‘Oh, but he saved TikTok,’” Pannone said. “It’s just a whole search for points, for more support, right at the beginning of the administration.”
Pannone said he is frustrated and disappointed in TikTok for failing to maintain a nonpartisan stance.
“I actually lost a little bit of respect for the company just being so promotional of a specific politician instead of what I think they should be, which is being more apolitical,” Pannone said. “They’re a platform for everyone.”
While Walcott said the app’s return was expected, she highlighted noticeable changes in her algorithm, no longer seeing the content that she was familiar with on her “For You” page.
“There’s some concerns about censorship when it comes to being able to ban an app like that and who has control over the app and how they’re changing the algorithm,” Walcott said.
Pannone said the change in TikTok is an example of corruption in social media companies.
“A lot of social media companies are really just showing their true colors as capitalistic, unidirectional, very specific political machines, with Meta changing their Terms of Service, and with TikTok changing their algorithm,” Pannone said.
Senior Ella Strayer said TikTok represents a creative outlet and a means of connection for her generation. She noted its role in global communication during the COVID-19 pandemic and said she is concerned with the fate of future social media apps.
“We saw Vine go away, we saw Musical.ly go away,” Strayer said. “If we see TikTok go away, what’s to stop the next app from going away because of breaches and national security?”
