TikTok creators can’t escape a maelstrom of policy and security concerns lately. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion national security package. Embedded in this was the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which gives TikTok parent company ByteDance 270 days to sell the platform or cease operations in the United States. Policymakers claim the bill is not a “ban” but a way to force China-based ByteDance to divest from TikTok. The battle over TikTok in court could last much longer than the roughly nine months before the deadline, but the app’s uncertain future has threatened community, connection and livelihoods for its many creators who rely on it.
Over In 2023, 150 million Americans used TikTokand a possible ban — or other measure that would radically alter the app — would change the fabric of modern American culture. It’s a hub for cute anime twists, the perfect four-ingredient salad recipe, tips for cleaning your home, other users’ personal diary entries that have gone viral and, unlike Washington’s action, a place where lawmakers directly be able to talk to voters. TikTok is home to a variety of communities and conversations, and people who create content for the platform must contend with a possible end to it all. As developers and experts explain to Polygon, TikTok is a hub for building an audience with connections to every other social platform, and losing it would undermine the livelihoods of people trying to make ends meet in a fragmented online experience to stay in touch.
Casey Fiesler, a professor in the Department of Information Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, who has collected a lot more than 115,000 followers
TikTok’s amazing ability to connect people with audiences who share their specific interests is reflected in the rise of some of its biggest creators. Eleanor Barnes, better known by the pseudonym Snitchery, built one huge audience of over 4.1 million followers on TikTok by sharing videos of imaginative makeup looks and outlandish cosplays. If you don’t know her by her pseudonym, you may have seen her as the Cabbage Seller Avatar: The Last Airbender or a cursed person Thomas the Tank Engine.
“I’ve been a full-time content creator for almost a decade, and within the first year of signing up, TikTok quickly became the platform with my largest audience,” says Barnes. For her, losing TikTok meant not only that she missed out on that audience, but also that she would use the platform to find information for herself. “Most of all, I would miss all the things I regularly learn from TikTok. Anything from obscure historical facts to how to tie a tie, I usually go straight there. I’ve been working in the industry long enough; I think I’ll be fine no matter what happens with the ban. I still have my other platforms. But losing access to all this information would be a great shame,” says Barnes.
Barnes and most YouTubers have other platforms to turn to, but as many note, TikTok serves as a catalyst that draws in viewers To the other platforms. Umi, better known online under her name Uwumi, rose to fame on TikTok in 2019 after she went viral for dancing to a remix of “Jump Up, Super Star!” out of Super Mario Odyssey. Uwumi says TikTok has galvanized the “entirety” of her online presence and community. The platform is still the easiest place “where anyone can go viral without necessarily having to rely on quality” or video length. Her over 900,000 followers are also instrumental in securing sponsorships. “All of the opportunities that have been presented to me – my community, connections, sponsorships and platform in general – are thanks to my first rise on TikTok in 2019,” she writes via email.
Nina Kemper, talent manager at Grail Talent, an agency that represents over 650 creators worldwide, says a TikTok ban would not only take away direct revenue streams for platforms like the TikTok Creator Fund Program, but could also result in creators losing brand deals, that go beyond the platform. “Many of them have been on the platform for years and have built a loyal following, mostly living on TikTok,” Kemper says via email, “so many are afraid that years of hard work and dedication could soon be lost without they have decided to do so.” can be found.”
Kevin Espiritu, the person behind it Epic gardening, which gives people gardening tips, estimated that a break or outright ban on the app would cause it to lose 3.1 million followers – many of whom are in the 18- to 24-year-old age group, which is unlikely to be on Instagram. YouTube or other social platforms would return. And for Espiritu, this audience is the “testing ground” for experiments that other algorithms might reject.
“I would hope that the ‘gap’ would be closed by an increase in YouTube Shorts viewership or Instagram Reels, but I wouldn’t be sure,” he says. “It would definitely be a huge success for our brand. “Using TikTok exclusively has created a lot of great opportunities for collaboration.” Espiritu points to appearances on national talk shows that got him off the stage.
While it’s easy to focus on larger influencers, Fiesler also emphasizes that the loss of TikTok could hit smaller and mid-sized creators who rely on the app to bring in much-needed additional revenue. Anecdotally, she heard during the COVID-19 pandemic that TikTok had become a significant source of income for creators with disabilities — a second job that could dry up if ByteDance doesn’t find a viable buyer.
“When people talk about loss of income, I think they think of big influencers with six-figure brand deals,” Fiesler says. “That’s not what I’m talking about when I talk about loss of income. I mean someone who has a full-time minimum wage job and can do something fun in their free time. They talk about it Stardew Valley on TikTok, and they can earn an additional $100 per month with the TikTok Creator program. Losing that $100 a month could mean they suddenly have trouble paying their rent.”
Erynn Chambers, known on the platform as Rynnstar, a creator whose commentary ranges from current political topics to detailed discussions about Steven UniverseShe has more than 1.2 million followers. Your profile serves as a conversation center for analyzing politics and popular culture. If TikTok were to disappear, Rynnstar would likely move on to Twitch and YouTube, but for now she’s biding her time by commenting on the legislation.
“I find it incomprehensible that the government would make such a blatant attempt to restrict the freedom of expression of its citizens,” Chambers said. “TikTok poses no greater threat to our data security than any other social media platform and, frankly, perhaps even less. “Once again, our so-called representatives have completely failed to represent the interests of their constituents on behalf of lobby groups.”
Lawmakers argue that TikTok owner ByteDance has shared or may share TikTok user data with the Chinese government. There are some pointers, although not overwhelming evidence to suggest this happened. TikTok definitely has some problems, and while Fiesler advocates for the power of TikTok, he admits his mistakes. However, simply deleting it would have an enormous impact on the many authors. Ultimately, it’s about taking into account that the platform can be improved and what negative effects a ban would have.
“There are a lot of problems,” says Fiesler. “There are privacy issues. There are content moderation issues. There are bias issues. I can say a lot: There are problems with paying people. I can say a lot. Most of the things I can say are also problems on other social media platforms. And that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of good on the platform.”