The Clock is Tik-Toking

President Donald Trump announces that he plans to ban the TikTok app once again.

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Gibsun Harkins

Sophomore Ameera Jackson on the TikTok app.

Gibsun Harkins, Writer

TikTok, formally known as musical.ly, is a well-known lip syncing app meant to be around the age group of 12-24 year olds, and was set to be banned on August 14 by President Donald Trump.

 It came as a shock to its users, some ready to completely abandon TikTok and others fighting for it. The app is so popular that Jason Derulo, Dwayne Johnson, and even the Carnegie Museum of Natural History has an account!

“I don’t think it’s gonna happen,” sophomore Ameera Jackson said. “But if it was, I’d be a little disappointed because I’d miss the entertainment.” Jackson, like many others, uses the app and sends these 15 to 60 second videos to their friends. “I go on several times a day,” Jackson said.

“I probably spend [an hour or two] on the app every day,” student teacher Christian Swearingen said. It just shows how wide of an audience the app has garnered.

Trump gave TikTok’s parent organization, Chinese-based ByteDance, 90 days to either allow Microsoft or another U.S based company to purchase TikTok, or they would do a lot more than just stopping downloads off the appstore. The reasons he gave for the proposed ban was about data breaches, and how China may be ‘spying’ on us. Some of the more popular users on the app, and White House officials, believe that it may be due to the sabotage of some of his rallies after teens came together on the app, being a national security risk.

Regardless of the exact reason, a judge ruled to put the ban on hold, and Oracle, who sells database software and cloud engineered systems, has now negotiated a deal to become partners. “I have given the deal my blessing,” Trump told NPR after being asked about the deal. “I approve the deal in concept.” This hasn’t been the first time an app has been banned, of course, but they usually aren’t apps as well used, or popular, as this one. Many still don’t know what will come of the app, but so far the users have found peace.