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.