In a dramatic turn of events, TikTok is back online after a 14-hour blackout caused by a national security ban. On January 19th, 2025, the TikTok app went dark, leaving its circa 170 million users in the USA stranded in a very dark alley.  Interestingly, the ban had an unintended consequence. Many US users migrated to a popular China-based social media platform, RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu in China, effectively defeating the purpose of the ban. RedNote has seen a surge of about 700k new users from the US. This also caused unintended consequences in China, as observed from various posts on Tiktok UK. But, that’s a discussion outside the scope of this article. Prior to his inauguration, President Donald Trump took credit for Tiktok’s return, promising no penalties for service providers. Many conspiracy theories have developed from this intriguing episode. But the saga is far from over. TikTok now has 90 days to find a US buyer, or it faces another shutdown. The list ...