I think we should all admit the addiction most of us have yet is not spoken about enough: our fellow friend, TikTok. There has been a lot of speculation over the potential banning of the app.

“I don’t mind TikTok being banned because I uninstalled the app a while ago,” senior Aubrie Smith said. “I think it is mostly a waste of time and should be restricted to an extent because kids are simply on it too much.” 

Used by more than 170 million Americans, the app will not disappear if already downloaded but is expected to be taken off the App Store and Google Store in approximately nine months. Though most of us already have the app installed, if the ban goes into effect, updates will no longer be available and the app will eventually be unusable. 

“Y’all are worried about the wrong thing,” senior Alannis Cubero said. “The government should be focused on other issues such as the cease-fire in Palestine, not an app people use to make the time pass.” 

To keep TikTok from being banned in the U.S., lawmakers say it is up to TikTok’s China-based parent company, Bytedance, if they want to sell. They have up to a year to sell their stakes, according to the legislation signed by President Joe Biden last Wednesday. 

“Lawmakers have suspicions about the video-sharing app’s ties to China and have tried to regulate it, though prior efforts to widely restrict it have been unsuccessful, according to CBS News. “U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that TikTok threatens national security because the Chinese government could use it to spy on Americans or weaponize it to covertly influence the U.S. public by amplifying or suppressing certain content.”

Although Congress is very skeptical about the app and accuses TikTok of being used to spy on and exploit Americans’ devices through software the Chinese government opposes otherwise. 

“We’ll continue to fight, as this legislation is a clear violation of the First Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans on TikTok,” TikTok executive, Michael Beckerman, said in an internal company memo obtained by CBS News. “It would have devastating consequences for the 7 million small businesses that use TikTok to reach new customers, sell their products, and create new jobs. This is the beginning, not the end of this long process.”