TikTok users are worried that the app could be banned in the US, saying it would be “devastating” to their careers as the businesses they built would “shrivel up and die”.
The U.S. Senate will likely approve the bill this week. Once passed, the bill would mean TikTok could be banned in the United States in 2025, but it could take even longer (if it happens).
However, the creators are unhappy and consider this decision to be hypocritical and an attack on their freedom of expression.
Those who want the app banned say TikTok could be forced to hand over its users’ data to the Chinese government. They also fear that TikTok could suppress or amplify certain topics due to government pressure.
TikTok has repeatedly denied the allegations and attempted to distance itself from ByteDance.
TikTok and its users fought back, with the platform urging people to call their representatives and make their views heard.
Creators have enthusiastically rallied against the bill and called out what they see as the hypocrisy of the U.S. government. They claim it focuses heavily on a single app while leaving other tech companies, such as Meta and Google, alone.
Leo LonDini, who has nine million subscribers, wondered how other partially Chinese-owned companies could apparently get a free pass.
Tencent, a Chinese company, has stakes in Epic Games, Universal Group, Warner Music Group, Spotify, Tesla, Snapchat and many others, for example, and a significant amount of Apple products are manufactured in China.
“Look, I don’t want any government, foreign or domestic, spying on me,” LonDini said. “And if our government could actually prove that Chinese companies are spying on us, then we have a decision to make, right? Either we accept the risk or we get rid of the app.”
The kicker has a choice, he added.
“The choice you took away from us.”
Brett Jansen, a creator who shares news on TikTok, said in a recent video that she thought it was suspicious that the only app where news spreads freely was potentially banned.
She called the bill “alarmist” and accused the government of using people’s ignorance about TikTok and how it works to its advantage.
“Can anyone help me understand why the US government is not doing the exact same thing they are accusing China of?” she says. “Which is basically controlling the narrative, controlling how our data is collected, and controlling how that data is used.”
@awomannamedbrett How many people on TikTok think it’s the only place they learn information not just about the United States but around the world that isn’t skewed by media bias or doesn’t come directly from a speech? government? 🙋🏼♀️ Yet Congress passed this ban in a foreign aid bill because 1. They are cowards and don’t want to vote on this independently because it would expose them. This is excessive reach at the highest levels. It’s disgusting, it’s unethical and I hope if this happens people wake up the F’s by showing them how corrupt DC is on both sides of the aisle. #tiktokban #congress #foreignaid #corruption #tiktok #wethepeople
♬ original sound – Brett | News and influence
Shira, a content creator who operates under the name shirashiraonthewall, told Business Insider last month that the ban was “a tactic to control the narrative.”
“TikTok has cultivated a huge community of people who discuss politics and current events without it being tainted by propaganda,” she said. “Many of us just want to know the truth.”
Without TikTok, Shira said she personally wouldn’t be aware of “some of the injustices that are happening across the world.”
“It is a valuable tool in the search for solidarity,” she said.
Shira also highlighted how a ban would hurt her business, as she would no longer be able to make money from the TikTok store.
A ban would be “devastating” for her, she said, because years of her work would be “forever erased.”
“I know I’ll just have to accept what’s happening and move on to creating content on Instagram Reels or Shorts,” she said. “But my growth and virality are not guaranteed there because my content was specially designed for TikTok.”
She said her future was therefore quite uncertain. She has worked with many major US companies through the app, and more than half of her income comes from brand deals with them.
A TikTok spokesperson told BI in March that the legislation had a “predetermined outcome,” namely a complete ban on TikTok in the United States.
“The government is attempting to deprive 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free speech,” they said. “It will harm millions of businesses, deprive artists of an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country.”
Ben Stanley turned to TikTok when he started creating art. He said he had been unable to maintain employment due to his mental and physical health complications. So, growing his audience on TikTok has provided him with a flexible way to earn an income.
It’s TikTok’s algorithm that made it successful, he told BI.
“If Tiktok is banned, my business won’t be able to survive because I don’t have the same type of following elsewhere,” he said.
“I would therefore find myself unemployed again, which would put a serious strain on my health as well as that of my wife and my son.”
A loss of TikTok would mean a loss of his business, he said, which would mean his revenue would “shrivel up and die.”
Tahrea Sherman, a content creator who makes TikToks about pop culture, told BI she was concerned that if TikTok was sold to a U.S. company, the government would remove some content.
This is a concern because TikTok is already very active in content moderation.
“I feel like it does what social media is supposed to do, which is connect with other people and explore new ideas,” Sherman said. “They want to change what makes the app great, and I think that’s very unfortunate.”
Catalina Goanta, associate professor of private law and technology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told BI that the Congressional bill only targets social media, which is “particularly strange and inconsistent.” given that there are security concerns around many other companies operating in the country. United States, including Temu.
But it also targets the digital creator economy, which is expected to reach half a trillion dollars by 2027, according to Goldman Sachs. Many of the world’s most famous designers are based in the United States.
According to Statista, approximately 75% of global marketing spending on social media stars was aimed at US influencers in 2023.
“Losing TikTok would be a terrible blow not only to the livelihoods of creators of all sizes in the United States, but also to the digital creative industry as a whole,” Goanta said. “It is an economically absurd decision to bring down a modern, creative and poorly understood digital industry.”
It’s possible TikTok could take legal action if the bill passes this week.
“At the point when the bill is signed, we will go to court for a legal challenge,” TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, Michael Beckerman, wrote in an internal memo to staff on Saturday.
“We will continue to fight, because this legislation is a blatant violation of the First Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans on TikTok.”
Editor’s note, April 23, 2024: This article has been updated to reflect the vote by the House of Representatives, which passed a bill to ban TikTok in the United States.
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