The sequence of events as far as I can recall:

  • Trump promised to ban TikTok
  • TikTok was slated to be “banned” in the twilight of Biden’s term
  • Trump says he’d give it 90 days to make a decision
  • Biden decides not to ban it, handing it off to Trump
  • TikTok goes dark
  • It returns, but if you search for something anti-Trump in the United States, you can’t find it
  • Using a VPN will give you that content
  • Various news outlets are now calling it Trump’s “Propaganda Arm”

What the fuck is going on? From a political or technological standpoint.