The American public is losing interest in banning TikTok, but experts say the alleged dangers of the app haven’t gone away.

A new survey from the Pew Research Center found barely more than a third of American adults support a TikTok ban, down from half of adults two years ago.

Fewer Americans see TikTok as a national security threat. That share has dropped to 49%, down from 59% in 2023.

Now, the public is closely divided over whether TikTok should be banned, with roughly a third supporting a ban, nearly a third opposing a ban, and a third who just aren’t sure.

So, why has support for a TikTok ban faded?

“Out of sight, out of mind,” said Andrew Selepak, a social media expert who teaches at the University of Florida.

President Donald Trump granted a “stay of execution” for TikTok when he took office, Selepak said. And there haven’t been many high-profile discussions over the perceived risks of TikTok since then. But the 75-day reprieve expires on April 5, and the social media platform’s future remains unclear.

Three Democratic senators recently sent Trump a three-page letter in hopes of convincing him and his administration to find “potential resolutions” to a TikTok ban. They said “there is a better solution” to banning the app in the U.S. and want Trump to direct Senate Republicans to pass the “Extend the TikTok Deadline Act.”

President Joe Biden signed a bill last April that included a requirement for TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform to a U.S.-approved buyer within nine months or face a ban.

U.S. lawmakers had raised concerns over data security and privacy for TikTok users, as well as suspicions the Chinese government influenced TikTok’s content.

The deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok hit in January, right before Trump took office, and TikTok was temporarily pulled from app stores.

But Trump postponed the ban, stating in his order that the delay was meant “to allow my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown of a communications platform used by millions of Americans.”

Support for banning TikTok has declined for both Republicans and Democrats, the Pew Research Center said. Republicans remain more likely than Democrats to back a ban (39% vs. 30%). People who don’t use TikTok are far more likely than those who do to support a ban (45% vs. 12%).

The majority of those who support a ban cite data security risks, TikTok’s Chinese ownership and the amount of inaccurate information on TikTok as key reasons for their stance. The majority of those who oppose a ban say it’s because they’re supporting free speech, TikTok offers information and entertainment and they think there’s not enough evidence that TikTok is a threat.

Moshe Vardi, a professor in computational engineering at Rice University, said his best guess for why ban support has faded is that Trump seemingly doesn’t want a ban. But Vardi called Trump’s support of TikTok “a bit mysterious” given the president’s opposition to China. All social media companies collect enormous amounts of data on their users, Vardi said. With TikTok, those concerns include Chinese government access to that trove of user data, he said.

“That argument was valid, and it’s still valid,” Vardi said.

He said nothing has changed with TikTok’s technology or ownership structure to mitigate the national security concerns that prompted Congress to pass the Chinese divestiture ultimatum last year.

“If people aren’t thinking about it, they’re not thinking about the dangers behind it,” Selepak said. Selepak said Republicans might be less enthusiastic about banning TikTok, because they see that Trump has expressed support for keeping the platform running.

And he said Democrats might be viewing TikTok as a better option than other social media platforms. X is strongly associated with its owner, Trump ally Elon Musk. Facebook has ditched content moderation, and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has cozied up to Trump, too.

And Bluesky hasn’t really taken off yet, Selepak said.

A majority of teenagers, over 60%, use TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center.

Selepak previously warned that TikTok’s algorithm “can put you down a rabbit hole of content.”

And the former U.S. surgeon general sounded the alarm that social media can be a driver of the “national youth mental health crisis,” even calling for warning labels on social media apps.

Youth mental health expert Katie Hurley said any social media app, including TikTok, can offer benefits and harms to teenagers.

Hurley is a licensed clinical social worker and the senior director of clinical advising and community programs at The Jed Foundation, an organization focused on mental health for teens and young adults.

She said social media can provide connection and community. It can allow teens to share interests and creativity. But social media can also harm the well-being of children and adolescents and might have a lasting effect on the developing brain, she said.

Hurley said there is insufficient access to data and a lack of transparency from technology companies, preventing a better understanding of social media’s impact.

“For teens growing up today, social media is a regular part of their daily lives. It is very much the waters they swim in,” she said via email. “The focus for each teen should be on whether or not apps like TikTok are positively contributing to their lives, and what changes they can make to use social media in ways that positively impact their lives.”

Have a news tip? Contact Cory Smith at corysmith@sbgtv.com or at x.com/Cory_L_Smith.