For about 14 hours, TikTok went dark in the U.S. as roughly 170 million Americans were denied access to the popular social media app. Although the threat of suspending the app loomed over American users for months, some University of Iowa students were in disbelief.

The app’s brief hiatus evoked a range of emotions for university students, ambivalence, slight gratitude, and raised conversations about free speech, the First Amendment, and national security threats.

“It was a mixture of thankfulness because so much of my time during the day kind of goes towards TikTok,” Anna Sanderson, a second-year student at the UI, said. “But also, I was [thinking], why is this the biggest thing that our government is focusing on right now?”

Upon entering the app, users were greeted with a message stating that a law banning TikTok in the U.S. had taken effect but that the owners of the app, ByteDance, were fortunate President Donald Trump would work with the company on a solution to reinstate the app.

During his first week back in office, Trump signed an executive order granting ByteDance 75 days to sell TikTok, allowing users to access the app until these 75 days pass. This follows Trump’s initial attempt at banning TikTok in 2020 if the app wasn’t sold to a U.S.-owned company.

When Trump signed the executive order, he suggested that the U.S. join in a joint venture with China in ownership of the app and even suggested that X, formerly known as Twitter, CEO Elon Musk may buy the app, according to Reuters.

The president cited national security in his executive order as the reason for pressuring ByteDance, a Beijing-based company, to sell TikTok.

Trump, alongside U.S. lawmakers, has been concerned over the ownership of user data and the potential for this data to be sold to the Chinese government or to be used to spread propaganda to U.S. citizens.

While there have been no signs of this so far, University of Iowa Assistant Professor Bingbing Zhang, whose research focuses on the effects of media messages on individuals’ beliefs and behaviors, also said that this is a valid claim.

“[ByteDance] is not allowed to just give bystanders [user] data,” Zhang said. “The Chinese government probably could overrule some of the rules [ByteDance] has written, so that’s why the U.S. government has concerns.”

But many U.S. TikTok users aren’t as concerned as some lawmakers about their user data and were surprised when the app was banned.

“I don’t put much out there,” Sanderson said. “If something is optional for an account, I typically don’t fill it out. So, I try to keep as much of my personal information not on an account.”

Rebekah Buettner, a UI first year, also said that her user data doesn’t contain enough personal information to be considered threatening.

“I feel like if it’s something like my birthday year, or something like that, it’s not that big of a deal,” Buettner said. “It’s not like it’s my social security number. It’s just for the algorithm.”

In arguments over the TikTok ban before the Supreme Court, lawyers representing TikTok users and content creators argued against the ban, claiming that restricting access to the application violates the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

“Rarely, if ever, has the court confronted a free-speech case that matters to so many people,” lawyers representing users and content creators wrote.

Annika Perez, a first-year student at the UI, said she felt as though the ban violated her First Amendment Rights.

“I genuinely didn’t think it was going to happen,” she said. “I was like, ‘That’s literally free speech. There’s no way they’re just going to take it away.’”

Zhang said that while the free speech argument does have validity, it may be outweighed by societal interests. She said that even given users free speech rights, if a social media app is circulating dangerous misinformation, it may be appropriate for a government to regulate or ban the app to prevent societal harm.

While Zhang said this logic can be applied to TikTok, the challenge for supporters of the ban is proving the harm posed by the platform.

“I think the tension is trying to prove whether that harm exists, because they are talking about potential right now,” Zhang said. “Potential harm is not actual harm.”

Zhang said Tiktok’s popularity may be the root cause of Trump’s decision to extend Bytedance’s deadline to find a U.S. buyer. Since Zhang finds it unlikely that ByteDance will ever sell the app, she said the purpose of the deadline extension is more so to avoid anger from TikTok users.

Sanderson agrees that Trump’s decision to extend the deadline was motivated by gaining favor with TikTok users, particularly given the age groups that are most prominent on the app.

“I think it was used as a way to get voters who are young and easily influenced on his side,” Sandersonon said.

Perez said Trump’s decision may be “a PR stunt.”

“I think because he wants more people to like him,” she said.

As users consider the possibility of TikTok being brought back as a PR stunt to increase Trump’s popularity, many have started to prepare for a complete ban by migrating to the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, or RedNote.

The app, which had previously only seen popularity with Chinese users, had a surge in U.S. users as many searched for an alternative to TikTok. Forbes reported that 3 million users joined the app in the days following TikTok’s suspension.

Zhang, a RedNote user herself, says she’s seen the growth of U.S. users.

“It’s a Chinese app written in Chinese, but now has all these people,” Zhang said. “Now, everyone’s learning Chinese — learning Mandarin.”

RedNote is based in China with a majority of its users being Chinese, so the app and most of its content is in Chinese. While many U.S. users have used translators outside the app or have started learning Chinese themselves, many more have begun calling for a translator to be introduced to the app or for the app to include English features. This has many Chinese users calling for other Chinese users to not attempt to appease U.S. users and speak English while using the app.

Despite the debate over TikTok’s safety, and the new popularity of RedNote as a replacement, Sanderson said that TikTok should remain accessible to users.

“I don’t get the big issue with it,” Sanderson said. “I think it’s a great way to get information. Obviously it shouldn’t be your only way to get information, but I think it’s a great way for people to express themselves.”