This blog has evolved over the past two years largely thanks to TikTok; what started as just a text-only endeavor is now a multimedia operation.

In 2022, InReview joined TikTok. Frankly, most of the videos I made there at the time weren’t very good, but it was a welcoming and forgiving community, and I found it easy to adapt to. Today, the traffic InReview generates on TikTok surpasses what we get on this website.

On Jan. 18, the app went dark in the U.S. for less than a day, before service was restored ahead of President Donald Trump’s executive order delaying the ban of the app. However, it’s still not available to download on the app stores, which has ironically led to lucrative black market where used phones with TikTok on them have sold for thousands of dollars.

I recently wrote a column for my local newspaper about the merits of the ban, specifically how it singles out one app for wide-ranging issues derived from the lack of guardrails in the U.S. for social media. The flood of former TikTok users to Red Note — a similar shortform video app with stronger ties to China and even more pressing security concerns — really drove this home for me.

But should the government be in the business of banning apps at all? I don’t think so.

According to the Supreme Court, the TikTok ban does not violate the First Amendment, even though it very much feels like censorship. Through the ban, the government is taking away a popular publishing platform and is limiting how its citizens can express themselves.

Yet it’s important to note that everyone who uses TikTok does so willingly, and the practices it employs in regards to user data are largely the industry standard. While the government’s interference about possible Chinese influence for the app are valid, it seems to be a drastic overstep to prevent Americans from accessing it altogether.

The ban feels like a quick fix to an issue that requires a more robust response — and that involves holding all social media platforms accountable for protecting user data, not just one app.

I’m also skeptical of what good a forced sale to an American company — the only thing that can end the ban outside of further action from Congress — would do. While it might mitigate some of the concerns about China interfering with the app, TikTok would still remain largely unregulated like its competitors.

In the meantime, I’ll still produce content for our TikTok, which is @ineviewmovies. I’ll see you there.