On Jan. 18, 2025, after months of speculation, the suspected TikTok ban became a reality as the Supreme Court agreed to uphold a law restricting Americans’ access to the app. Users around the internet flocked to the Chinese app Xiaohongshu, commonly referred to as RedNote, and the much-maligned Instagram Reels as they attempted to get their short-form content fix. After TikTok shut down, a message appeared for the app’s 173 million American users, citing then-President-elect Donald Trump as the app’s savior: “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.” After TikTok returned to the airwaves, Americans received a new message: “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
The president’s support of TikTok marks a stark departure from his previous stance when he tried to block the app in the United States and force its sale to American companies in 2020. While we may not know the exact machinations behind Trump’s shift in policy, it is clear that Trump has weaponized the ban as a source of political capital. As American TikTok users scrambled for alternatives to the app that has become a crucial part of their daily lives, the President swept in to save the very app that he had once attempted to ban during his first presidency. Trump’s opinion on the company shifted last year as his campaign rose in popularity on the app during the election. But this is only the most recent instance of the increasing entanglement between the government and the tech industry — an association we should be concerned about.
Take, for instance, a photo circulated throughout the internet from Trump’s inauguration of tech Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg sitting alongside Trump’s family members and in front of his own Cabinet picks. This was widely criticized as reflective of the rising influence of oligarchs in our political system. Musk, who owns the social media platform X, donated over $200 million in assistance to Trump’s presidential campaign, according to AP News. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, one of the largest media outlets in the world, which came under fire in November for its refusal to endorse a presidential candidate in a break with 36 years of tradition. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is preparing to end its fact-checking program — a response, partly, to the 2024 presidential election, which Zuckerberg cited as a “cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech.” This announcement came only a day after Meta said that Dana White, one of Trump’s close allies, would join its board. These examples point towards an increasingly close relationship between these tech companies, the government and the news and entertainment we consume.
This should be a cause for concern; according to a January Bark survey, 73 percent of Redwood students use TikTok. The apps we use are more heavily influenced than ever by the prerogatives and the priorities of those in power. While the immediate effects of the Trump administration on the app’s content may not yet be apparent, it is important to monitor the algorithm, which could be affected in the future.
There are legitimate concerns with TikTok: how it has monopolized our attention spans and our minds, and how the app has become second nature for so many. (Incidentally, many of the TikToks posted after the ban featured people talking about how they clicked on the app repeatedly, knowing that it wouldn’t open but trying regardless.) However, we should be dealing with those concerns as individuals. More importantly, though, we should make informed decisions on the information we consume. As the influence of the tech industry on the government is only increasing, so should our vigilance regarding the platforms we depend on and the information we accept be true.
