Editorials

TikTok Ban

Andrew Pennybacker, Copy Editor

February 18, 2025

Kids in America were minmally impacted by TikTok’s brief hiatus, but what does it mean for the future?

Dancing, music, life hacks, and more. TikTok seems to be where everyone’s eyes are, but maybe for not much longer.

According to The Associated Press, TikTok will be banned in the United States, again, but this time, for good. The main concern is for national security issues, and the owner of TikTok had to sell it to an American Buyer to keep it online, but was not able to do so. The only reason that the ban in January was lifted, was because of the extension given by President Donald Trump. This is also what CP Civics teacher Mr. Stanton said, it can be a lesson to put into the classroom.

“I think it’s a great teachable moment, because so many of my students use TikTok, and when the ban started to become a reality, so many of them came in with questions,” said Mr. Stanton.

There are a lot of good and bad that can come out of a government ban of TikTok. From potentially less time on your phone, to losing something to pass the time. Or even a thought that, is this going against the First Amendment.

“Another great teachable moment, because most are like, wait a minute, don’t I have the First Amendment Right to use TikTok,” said Mr. Stanton.

This ban and potential future permanent ban could have a lot of people trying to figure out what to do, as some teenagers that spend hours on TikTok, now could get that taken away. Although as junior Jana Schodzinski said, it has affected more than just TikTok.

“It wasn’t just banning Tiktok, it was banning all applications that were founded outside of the U.S. and were owned by non U.S. Corporations. So people are rightful to be upset over their favorite app being banned, but they should be more upset over the fact that this is too nationalist for the U.S. to be becoming,” Schodzinski said.

Many students were surprised by the ban and unaware of the politics around the app.

“I kept clicking on it over and over again,” said sophomore Joeyana Strothers.

With so many of American things owned by international companies, Mr. Stanton did raise one major question: “And what could our government ban in the future?”

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About the Contributors

Andrew Pennybacker, Copy Editor

Andrew is a junior and has been a Copy Editor for the last 2 years. He has been a staff member at The Park Press since the first day of freshman year. He was also Editor in Chief his 8th grade year in middle school for the Viking Voices. In fifth grade, he was a finalist for the young writers contest. Andrew is an avid golfer, and has played a few of the country’s best golf courses. He was a member of the 2022 West Virginia State Championship winning golf team. Andrew is the self proclaimed Park Press’ resident golfer. In addition to this, he became a Freshman Mentor at the start of his junior year. From Kindergarten to 5th grade, Andrew only missed 5 words on all of the spelling tests combined.

Will Medovic, Social Media Editor

Will Medovic is the Social Media Editor for The Park Press and a junior at Wheeling Park High School. Will is proud to be one of the first members of the revamped Park Press. Outside of the Press, Will is a proud member of the 44-time winning Wheeling Park Speech and Debate Team and an anchor and producer for WPHP’s “Patriot Connection.” As a Speech team member, Will has competed in Impromptu, Poetry, and POI, finaling in each. Will is a member of the newly founded Quill and Scroll Society as well as the Radio & TV Club, He will also be a Career Technical Education Program Completer in Broadcast Technology and Social Journalism. Will is also a freshman mentor. When he’s not working on The Park Press, you can typically find Will editing a story for WPHP. When he’s not at school, Will’s usually out and about with his friends and family, whom he cherishes most. Will is so excited to be back on the Press with his best friends!