Will TikTok be banned in 2025? Everything we know so far

TikTok users are sharing fresh concerns about a potential ban coming their way in 2025 – and new comments by the US Commerce Secretary certainly aren’t helping.

There are 170 million TikTok users in the US, and they face a long wait for news.

There’s a deadline currently looming which has social media users on high alert. Last month, Trump extended to 17 September a deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the US assets of TikTok.

It comes amid reports that TikTok is developing a brand new version of its app for US users.

However, the Chinese-owned app risks being banned in the US in September if its parent company ByteDance does not sell it to an American owner.

A sale agreement is in place, The Information reported earlier this month, which would see a new, separate version of the app launched in the US.

What has the U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said about a potential ban?

  Win McNamee/Getty Images

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said this week that unless China approves a deal for the sale of the Chinese-owned app, it will have to stop being used in the US.

Speaking on CNBC, Lutnick said: "China can have a little piece or ByteDance, the current owner, can keep a little piece. But basically, Americans will have control. Americans will own the technology, and Americans will control the algorithm.”

He added: "If that deal gets approved by the Chinese, then that deal will happen. If they don't approve it, then TikTok is going to go dark, and those decisions are coming very soon.”

What would happen if TikTok was banned in the US?

  The message saw on their phones back in JanuaryTikTok

As we saw earlier this year, the law of Congress forces intermediary companies such as Apple and Google – which control the iOS and Android app stores respectively – to stop providing access to TikTok.

"It shall be unlawful for an entity to distribute, maintain, or update – or enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of – a foreign adversary controlled application," the law states.

Back in January, the app ‘went dark’. Around 10:30 p.m. on January 19, TikTok users opened the platform to find the following message: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.

“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”

How could TikTok get around the ban?

TikTok is reportedly developing a new, separate application specifically for its US users, with a planned launch in September.

Speaking earlier in July, Trump said that the US “pretty much” had a deal on the sale of the TikTok short-video app.

“I think we’re gonna start Monday or Tuesday ... talking to China – perhaps President Xi or one of his representatives – but we would, we pretty much have a deal,” Trump said.

Trump's history with TikTok

  Getty Images

While Trump has made TikTok a pretty significant part of his Presidency so far, vowing to protect the platform, he actually called for it to be banned in 2020.

Trump previously tried to get it banned on national security grounds – and people aren’t letting him forget.

The former president garnered over three million followers in just two days after joining the app in July 2024, and his decision to join the platform was widely regarded as an attempt to reach out to young Gen Z voters.

However, back in 2020, he tried to get it banned.

“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” then-president Trump declared to reporters aboard Air Force One in July 2020.

The very next month, Trump tried to ban TikTok through an executive order that said “the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned” by Chinese companies was a national security threat.

While Trump is being held up by many as the person to save the platform – commentators are pointing out that he only decided not to ban it after releasing it could be a tool for connecting with younger voters.

Why not read…

• All the people that could buy TikTok as second ban deadline looms
• Donald Trump wanted to ban TikTok in 2020 – and people aren’t letting him forget

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