Is the world ending? Is freedom of speech being defended? What platform can we turn to now? As social media platforms are being redesigned and innovated, teenagers and adults everywhere are using these programs as a source of entertainment, income, and publicity. However, one of the most popularly used applications known as TikTok is being put up on the stand. 

Previously known as Musically, this public media app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance is loved by 63% of American teens and 52% of American adults. The platform is used daily by many as a source of current news. It has also become a stress reliever to thoughtlessly scroll through content your curated algorithm thinks you’ll enjoy.  

As loved as it is by society, the applications safety measures are being debated. Due to the app’s base facilities in China, the argument of a National Security threat is questioned. Due to this, the media’s use in America is being taken to a Supreme Court level. This past April, a law was signed that ByteDance must sell the U.S assets to an American run business to avoid a nationwide ban of the app.  

Recently, an organization known as Project Liberty has announced their attempt to bid on the social platform. They establish a new goal of centering TikTok around empowerment of individuals and data security. As beneficial as this purchase seems, it would only include the U.S assets, eliminating the current algorithm included as ByteDance has deemed it their own “intellectual property.” Therefore, if the purchase was successful, the app Americans would be permitted to use will vary from the currently adored platform. 

In an attempt to give potential buyers more time, a hold on the law may be implemented for up to two-hundred-seventy days. But with that will also come the loss of the algorithm, which is a key factor of why many flock to TikTok as their preferred form of media. With the future of the clock app unknown, teenagers have begun transferring to already made and new platforms ranging from Lemon8 and Neptune (unreleased), to the Chinese version of TikTok known as RedNote referring to themselves as the “TikTok Refugees.”