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It’s been a banner weekend for zombification.
TikTok was found dead in its U.S. residence on Saturday following a lethal collision with the Supreme Court. The popular social media app — owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance — was renowned for its vibrant community of creators and a “special sauce” algorithm that scared the pants off congressional lawmakers last spring. Survived by more than 170 million American users, the platform changed pop culture and entertainment marketing as we know it forever. She was only 7.
A day later, on Sunday, January 19, President-elect Donald Trump seemingly helped bring TikTok back to life. The eve of his inauguration has been a critical deadline since Congress agreed that the app would have to divest from ByteDance or face a countrywide ban in April 2024. Caught at the intersection of free speech and national security, the software supporting the platform is considered among the most valuable tech assets in the world. ByteDance has not been compelled to sell, but TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will attend Trump’s swearing in on Monday alongside fellow tech moguls Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. All will be seated in positions of honor on the dais.
“Thanks for your patience and support,” the TikTok welcome screen read by mid-Sunday, mere hours after the platform went dark and disappeared from app stores. “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.! You can continue to create, share, and discover all the things you love on TikTok.”
Data is king in 2025, and concerns about China’s influence over TikTok are two-fold. What information does ByteDance have about American users that China might want? And what content is TikTok feeding Americans that China might benefit from? Those questions have yet to be resolved, but the promise of an executive order from Trump was enough to restore the app and put off enforcement of the law. Upheld by the country’s highest court late last week, the decision will “most likely” be delayed for at least 90 days, per Trump. The extension will give TikTok and government officials more time to compromise. It also stands to fortify the platform as a Trump-backed part of the American consciousness. Despite the former and future president’s attempts to block it during his last term, Trump signed his name on both ends of TikTok’s whiplash weekend.
“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office,” the app read overnight while it was temporarily unusable for scads of upset users.
Who decides what is censored from the American people — and why — is of paramount importance in a world increasingly driven by digital interaction. As content moderation efforts are rolled back at Meta (impacting both Facebook and Instagram) and X continues its confused crusade (check out Musk fumbling this recent PR mess with the gamer contingent), TikTok represents a kind of final frontier for contemporary political discourse. It’s also the next step in Trump’s effort to gain control over the audiences and artists who rejected him in 2024 and 2020.
Opposed by big names from Taylor Swift to Beyoncé, Trump got slapped by the entertainment industry last election with the failed but nevertheless viral Kamala Harris campaign. Her bid for presidential power may have come up short — but on TikTok, everything from Charli XCX’s “Brat” to the beloved coconut tree meme and “Saturday Night Live” clips exemplified how entertainment continues to drive conversation despite myriad struggles facing the industry. Even as countless creatives flounder to make ends meet in the tortured economy that got Trump elected, pop culture steers political opinion.
The week before the TikTok ban, Trump appointed actors Mel Gibson, Jon Voight, and Sylvester Stallone as “Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California.” The announcement was made on social media and promised to make Hollywood great again: “BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!” Trump wrote. The repeat president has just shy of 15 million followers on TikTok, but the appearance of his name on the app’s welcome screen was nevertheless startling to many. Even those who mainly yearned for the good old days — for that dopamine-heavy carousel of cats and dogs, purple milkshakes, choreographed dances, and endless PR opportunities — during TikTok’s brief absence remarked on such a divisive figure becoming the platform’s de facto mascot.
If you use TikTok, then you know the app was mostly back to normal by Sunday night. Creators whose incomes were threatened by the ban have been rejoicing while several political commentators on TikTok are using it to express concerns about Trump’s pivot. An old audio clip from “Family Guy” — which gained popularity among anxious users as a kind of doomsday rallying cry before the ban — is still trending.
“Since we’re all gonna die, there’s one more secret I feel I have to share with you,” says Peter Griffin, before delivering one of the most outrageous bits of film criticism ever. “I did not care for ‘The Godfather.’”
Like consiglieri in a turf war, the mob returning to TikTok this weekend does so in the shadow of Trump’s White House. That’s good or bad depending on your personal politics, but there’s no doubt that it’s just the beginning for what’s already shaping up to be one of the year’s most high-stakes entertainment stories. Whether ByteDance continues to operate in the U.S. or not, this weekend changed the pop culture landscape more than any other TikTok moment. Now on this — the eve of our president’s second inauguration — the festivities continue, even as Hollywood chokes down an offer it couldn’t refuse.
English (US) ·