Katrina Sanford was in bed, scrolling through TikTok, when the app went dark.
“We knew it was going out, but we thought it was going to go out at 11,” the senior biochemistry major said. “When it went out at, like, 9:30, it was so surprising.”
Hours before a federal law banning TikTok in the United States took effect on Jan. 19, users found themselves unable to access the platform, which displayed a message stating, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.”
“I was kind of in shock,” Sanford said. “I put my phone up because people were blowing up my phone about the ban.”
Without the ability to scroll, Sanford grabbed a Rubik’s Cube, asked her roommate to scramble it and started solving it. After a few hours, she saw some progress.
“I have a very geometry-centered brain,” Sanford said. “It makes sense to me of how to move which piece around to where I want them.”
On Sunday morning, she woke up and just had the last four corners left to solve. Then, as she positioned the final solid side, she noticed that TikTok was back online and started to scroll.
“I feel like without TikTok, I would be a much more productive person because I just find little things to do like that,” she said. “But, at the same time, I don’t really want to do that because I get bored so easily. That’s the good part about having TikTok — the videos change every 30 seconds or whenever I swipe, so it holds my attention span.”
Even though TikTok welcomed users back after a 12-hour period with a message thanking President Donald Trump for his “efforts,” the threat of a permanent ban still looms unless ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, sells the platform to an American company. Currently, the app is still usable, but it has been taken off app stores for U.S. citizens.
For many college students, TikTok has become a major part of daily life. According to a survey by Intelligent, nearly 75% of undergraduate students are frequent users of the app, with nearly half reporting they use it daily. The platform also plays a significant role in how Generation Z consumes news—Pew Research found that 4 in 10 Americans aged 18-29 get their primary sources of news from TikTok.
Before the national ban, Mississippi had already taken steps to limit the use of TikTok on government devices due to security concerns. Senate Bill 2140, which became effective on July 1, 2023, influenced Mississippi State University’s decision to ban the platform’s presence on campus Wi-Fi networks. However, students often bypass this restriction simply by disconnecting from Wi-Fi and using alternate networks or cellular data.
The uncertainty surrounding the app’s future has sparked conversations on campus about how students might adapt if a permanent ban is implemented.
Kirsten Bolton, a freshman biochemistry major, said she was scared when she found out about the ban.
“I know people who make their money on TikTok,” Bolton said. “It kind of hurts because what if one day I go viral — I still want to be paid for it.”
During the 12-hour ban, many users scrambled to find ways to continue accessing TikTok. VPN usage in the U.S. surged by 827% on the night the platform went dark as users sought to bypass their restrictions. Despite the spike, most users found that VPNs were unsuccessful in circumventing the ban.
Some students, such as Abby Grace Dendy, a freshman majoring in educational psychology, explored short-form media alternatives during the brief ban. Apps like RedNote, one of China’s largest social media platforms, saw a sudden influx of “TikTok refugees” looking for another way to like and scroll.
“The entire app is in Mandarin, none of which I speak,” Dendy said. “but pictures and memes are the universal language that have abilities to stretch across language barriers.”
Despite the language barrier, Dendy quickly learned how to adapt, even adding parts of the new language to her vocabulary.
“Over time, I even learned how to say ‘Oh my Shayla’ in Mandarin and recognize the letters for it,” Dendy said, referring to the popular trending audio on TikTok. “But, now that TikTok is back, I’m not on RedNote anymore.”
Right now, TikTok’s future in the U.S. is uncertain. On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to halt the ban and extend the deadline by 75 days. However, if ByteDance does not sell TikTok to an American company by the deadline, there is a chance that U.S. users may lose access to TikTok permanently.
