TikTok, Boom: My Ode to The Social Media App by Anjeanette LeBoeuf

Like millions of others, I downloaded a social media app called TikTok during the first few weeks of the Covid-19 Pandemic. I wrote a FAR post about the rising importance and threat that TikTok was back July 2020. And here we are five years later and the United States Government, while incompetent to stop the persistent gun violence, the rising costs of living, the erosion of democracy and personal freedoms, the dumpster fire that is our medical system CAN vote together to ban and remove a social media app used by millions.

While in office in late 2019, Trump and his administration started sowing the seeds that TikTok was dangerous and a tool being used by China to spy on America. Many of us who were on the app knew that it wasn’t because TikTok was a Chinese owned app but because it was one of the most efficient and effective tools in galvanizing, rallying, and connecting across the world. To be clear Trump and his administration INITIATED THE BAN.

And on the eve of the next Trump Administration, the banning of TikTok has became a reality. On January 18, 2025 millions of US users started to receive comments when opening their app that the ban was about to take place. I myself, saw the app stop working and became increasingly bereft. So why has a social media app became so quintessential to my life?

Let me begin at the start of this TikTok journey. I was hesitant at first as the app was recommended by my students while we were on a Study Aboard Course in Thailand in January of 2020. Was this app going to be like Twitter or SnapChat or the long since passed Vine? What I found to my continuous surprise was community, wisdom, healing, awareness, and yes drama, drama, drama.

Over the course of 5 years there has been so much that TikTok has provided as a consumer, as an academic, and as a human being. Communities have been created beyond what you could even imagine. People found that their interests, their experiences, their hurts, and their views were not singular or so incredibly different from others. Connections upon connections were made. People who have had their voices and experiences silenced were not only sharing but growing and prospering on TikTok.

Communities like NativeTok, MaoriTok, ExEvan/ExMormon/DeConstruction, and BookTok to name a few are thriving. Marginalized groups became connected which have allowed news ways of flourishing.

TikTok became more then just people uploaded their attempts on dance moves to specific songs but a place for people to share and relate. Sharing recipes, life hacks, tips, and constant consuming of popular culture. In the last 5 years, many users have taken to become active creators which pulled income from their videos. Many have used the platform to expand their businesses, their art, their music. I have since bought cds and attending concerts from musicians and bands I found through TikTok, I have bought art directly from artists, and have sponsored refugees from Syria, Ukraine, Iran, and Palestine.

Creators on Tiktok have quit their traditional jobs to become full time creators as their revenue became reliable enough to do so. It is much more then silly memes or videos, or skits but actual livelihoods being grown and shared. Caregivers have found support and assistance. Users upon users have found substance and wisdom beyond anything they could have imagined.

Now my own use of TikTok is both personal and scholarly. I go to TikTok for solace, for community, for entertainment, and also for research. I am constantly drawn to observing how people are using the social media app to explore religious ideologies, concepts, philosophies, and conversations. Yes my FYP (For You Page) was tailored to include videos on Ed Sheeran, Hozier, Rhinos, Red Pandas, Soccer, following the love life of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, etc. and it also included being introduced to children and families dealing with Sanfilippo Syndrome, SCID, chronic illnesses, and rare disorders. In the  5 years, I have watched and mourned the lives of 3 children (Poppy, Caroline, and Bella), 2 Grandmas (GB and Grandma Punsalan) and have been mourned with millions when the pug Noodle died and the “Bones, No Bones” videos stopped.

The app became a lifeline and means to which information could be shared when the racial tensions in the US can to a rallying cry and collective resistant in 2019 and 2020. The app helped to bring awareness to the killing of Mahsa Amima, when Russia invaded Ukraine, when one US mass shooting after another happened, and more importantly when the active genocide of Palestinians became the number one agenda for the political state of Israel. Time and time again, the app was used as countless protests and vigils of solidarity sprung up across the globe. This summer, TikTok became a crucial vehicle to which thousands of Olympians, News Reporters, and Viewers participated in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Most recently TikTok became a way to which the world watched as young and old Māori peoples and politicians protested the erosion of their rights which became a new rallying cry for indigenous and communities of color of solidarity and connection.

For almost 20 hours, the TikTok app was not functional. Trump has made a provisional statement to extended a 90 day reprieve which has allowed users in the US access once more to the App. The app included a statement when US users login back in that the app was working again thanks to Trump. Let me be very clear here. Trump initiated the ban, demonized the app, supported every level of the ban from Congress to the Supreme Court, and then at the crisis point, says he will bring it back. He will fix the damage that he himself caused. He is not a savior, he is not a fixer. This is all about control and profit.

The app we knew, that was in millions of peoples’ lives is gone. One of the first elements to go with the establishing of fascism and oligarchy is to remove freedom of press and assembly; that which the original TikTok inherently provides.

I don’t know what the future has in store, I don’t know what we will have access to, but I do know that for the last 5 years I have grown, connected, laughed, cried, raged, healed, and breathed deeply due to the communities and users of TikTok. For that I am eternally grateful. And that will never be taken away. And I do know that today we need to be even more connected as we face the rising tides.