TikTok Is Banned Then Unbanned: How The Internet Reacted

It was a wild weekend for TikTok. On Sunday, the video sharing platform was banned in the U.S., meaning it no longer worked for users. Yet this wasn’t the end of the drama. After only 14 hours, TikTok was unbanned and back in business, something it attributed to the “result of President Trump’s efforts.”

Unsurprisingly, this sequence of affairs sent the internet into a whirlwind.

Throughout this saga of TikTok’s banning and unbanning, social media has been aflame with commentary and memes. Beyond the entertainment value, this is a prime example of how the internet reacts to rapid changes in the world, and how it helps people make sense of the news cycle.

First though, let’s dive into what happened.

Why Was TikTok Banned? And Then Unbanned?

TikTok was originally banned because of worries about U.S. national security and user privacy.

The story kicked off in 2020, when Donald Trump ordered ByteDance—TikTok’s owner—to sell off the platform’s United States operations.

This potential regulation went cold for the first part of Biden’s presidency, yet after FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that the Chinese government could use TikTok as an influence tool in 2022, a bill against the social network picked up steam.

Two years later, the House of Representatives and Senate passed a bill requiring the U.S. arm of TikTok to either be banned or sold. ByteDance tried to fight this, but it was unsuccessful, resulting in the ban on Sunday, Jan 19.

Yet, just as people were unable to access the app in the United States, there was another twist in the story. A mere 14 hours after the ban, TikTok was back:

President-elect Donald Trump promised to halt the TikTok ban when he comes into office, something he’ll achieve by extending the deadline ByteDance has to sell the app.

For U.S. users, TikTok is unbanned and can be used freely. For now at least.

How Did The Internet React To TikTok Being Banned And Unbanned?

It was a chaotic time online. Before the TikTok ban came into effect, many people made memes about alternatives to the platform, such as this one about Instagram Reels:

While other people combined other popular memes with the news about TikTok’s upcoming ban:

When the TikTok ban actually happened, a key type of post involved people mocking their own reaction to the event:

As well as joking about alternatives to the social platform:

Once TikTok was unbanned, the internet continued joking—albeit with a slightly more serious edge at times.

Some posts were similar to those shared above, making light of their own reactions to the news:

But others looked at how savvy the political move of unbanning TikTok was:

What The Social Media Reaction To The Banning And Unbanning Of TikTok Means

There are a few simultaneous elements at work with the the internet’s reaction to the banning and unbanning of TikTok. Some simply involve the possible engagement opportunities for such a big news story, others as a coping mechanism to the loss of the platform, but one of the most interesting is how social media operates as an information conduit.

We live in the data age, a time where we’re constantly exposed to a wide range of stimuli and material. Driven predominately by social media and the internet, certain researchers refer to how this has impacted humanity as an “information overload.”

One outcome of this is disconnection. No one is able to have a firm grasp on everything that’s happening. News moves and morphs so quickly that fully understanding—or even just following an entire story—is tough, as there are thousands of other things vying for our attention.

This creates a two-fold issue. The first is that we feel removed from what’s happening, and the second is that it can be confusing to get to the core of what’s going on.

And social media can help this.

Creating memes and posting about something like the TikTok ban can help people feel more in control of what’s happening, as they can take some action in regards to a story—even if that’s just posting a funny picture.

The second part of the information overload that social media can help with is providing an easy summary for people. When TikTok was banned and unbanned over several hours, it was a chaotic time for many, with a deluge of people being unclear about what precisely was going on.

Memes and posts are an antidote to this. They not only sum up a story in short and readable burst, but they do so in an entertaining way.

Beyond that, rather than simply describing a story, they can position it in a wider context, something that can help gain an opinion on an issue, rather than just knowing what happened. Again, this can give people the feeling of control, that they don’t just know the facts, but have actually interpreted them.

Ultimately, TikTok being banned and unbanned over the space of 14 hours was a period of online chaos. Yes, people joked and made memes for fun, but the format holds a deeper purpose than just humor. They can be a way to make sense of the world, to deliver context in confusing times, and to provide the feeling of control in a chaotic world.

TikTok’s banning and unbanning was a tough time for some, but one thing’s certain: memes made it easier.