Georgia College & State University and Georgia Military College students held mixed emotions Sunday following the TikTok ban. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court unanimously voted to uphold a law stating TikTok will shut down in the United States by Jan. 19.
Georgia College junior Elijah Gaddy was indifferent about this decision.
“I think taking away TikTok violates our right to free speech, and it is taking away a creative community for millions of Americans. At least there are alternative apps that can be used for social media. Although it may be upsetting to some people, it’s not the end of the world.”
GMC sophomore Brady Hippler understands both sides of the ban.
“Well, considering it’s a Chinese company and they definitely use it for intelligence, it can be used against the U.S. But it is a huge form of revenue for millions of people in the U.S., so there are positives and negatives,” said Hippler. “It depends how you look at it, but overall, it will be a good thing if you look at it from a government point of view.”
Georgia College junior Sarah Richardson is very upset about the ban.
“I don’t see any reason for the ban. I think it violates our First Amendment rights and if Congress is threatened with an app, they need to focus on other things. Parts of TikTok are really good, specifically when people can learn things that their parents never taught them to do, or people giving tutorials on how to do things,” Richardson said.
TikTok was unavailable for Americans Saturday night and a little after 12 hours, people regained access. Trump stated he will most likely give TikTok a 90-day extension to avoid the ban. While many were upset, thinking the app was going to go away forever, others such as Georgia College sophomore Kathryn Merck, stayed hopeful.
“It was all a social experiment that was not going to actually last, and I kind of knew that it was not going to stay banned because the majority of the population wants it to stay,” said Merck. “A big part of the reason TikTok got banned in the first place is the government did not like people on the internet discussing certain things.”
There is still a chance TikTok could become unavailable for Americans. Controversial opinions and speculations about the app continue to be spread due to the amount of time people spend on it, leaving many to ponder if it could be beneficial or harmful to Americans.
“I think it’s an overall good thing if TikTok stay banned because mindlessly scrolling is not a good thing and can potentially take up a large part of your day,” said Gaddy. “This could be a chance for people to be more productive.”