TikTok has seen lots of controversy in the past few months. Although current users only experienced around 14 hours of downtime, new users have not been able to download TikTok from any major app store for the past several weeks. The TikTok ban was signed into law by President Joe Biden and set to take action on Jan. 19, one day before President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Despite hearing concerns from TikTok and ByteDance that the ban restricted free speech, the US Supreme court ruled that the law would stand.

On January 20th, the first day of President Trump’s term, he signed many executive orders, including one that delayed the implementation of the ban by 75 days. The executive order is based on the president’s powers controlling foreign diplomacy and national security, which allowed the executive order to push the date of the ban from January 19th, 2025 to April 4, 2025. The executive order says that this extension of the ban will allow the new administration to review the security concerns and negotiate with ByteDance.

The attorney general, a member of the executive branch in charge of representing the US government in legal matters, will not be prosecuting distributors of TikTok until the 75 day extension deadline is met. On February 13, TikTok returned to the Apple and Google Play app stores, allowing new users to download the app. After this extension is up, it is ambiguous whether TikTok will stay live for American audiences, or if it will be gone for good.

The concern of national security and TikTok has been ongoing in the past few years. With laws, court rulings, and executive orders giving their own opinion on the best way to deal with TikTok, the landscape of the ban is constantly changing.