TikTok might be getting banned in the United States. Here’s how a TikTok ban can play out for creators.
Every morning, I wake up and doom scroll on TikTok to learn about what’s going on in the world. Whether it is conspiracy theories about drones over New Jersey or truly weird cooking videos, there’s always something on my FYP that I didn’t know I needed until the algorithm delivered it to me. I’m not the only one with an affinity for TikTok. According to the Pew Research Center, a third of US adults use the video-sharing app.
But TikTok might be leaving the United States for good on Jan. 19 if parent company ByteDance can’t sell the app by then. In April, President Joe Biden signed a bill requiring the Beijing-based company to sell the app to a non-Chinese company.
ByteDance has tried multiple times to overturn the bill in the United States, most recently on Dec. 13 filing an emergency motion to the U.S. Court of Appeals which was rejected the same day.
TikTok is either going away for good or transforming into something else entirely, but here’s what I think could happen.
The TikTok Ban Means TikTok Goes Away
ByteDance could very easily pull TikTok from US app stores and be done with it. However, that would mean losing a very lucrative market. According to Reuters, the app earned $16 billion in revenue in the United States in 2023. Through the TikTok shop, small businesses have contributed $24.2 billion to the national GDP in 2023.
If the app vanished overnight, it would create a massive hole in the market for all the creators and businesses making a living off of their content.
The TikTok Ban Means TikTok Gets Sold
A list of executives including billionaire Frank McCourt and former CEO of Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick have already shown interest in buying TikTok. McCourt, along with other investors, admitted to Business Insider that they are ready to pay $20 billion for the app. However, ByteDance has refused to even entertain bids.
But let’s say that ByteDance does decide to throw in the towel and hand over the app to another tech oligarch. They won’t be getting the platform’s algorithm, which caters content to users based on what it thinks they want to watch, because that’s proprietary information and used in the app in every other country around the world.
The app itself could just be a user base without any of the technology behind it, essentially turning it into a barren wasteland without anything interesting in it.
What to Do Just In Case
If TikTok does get sold to another major tech company, it will lose at least some of its charm. Shortform videos on other platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are lower quality in my opinion, with their algorithm shoveling as much depressing slop as possible in an attempt to keep you glued to your phone.
Sure, TikTok will dump ads for walking treadmills and computer monitors, but it also offers so much more life to the trends that pop up within it.
If you are a TikTok creator, I’d recommend backing up every video you’ve posted just in case. Buy an external hard drive and keep your content to post on whatever other platform that pops up to replace TikTok.
You should also make sure to share your other socials with your TikTok following to make sure they can find you if the ban hammer comes down. While you’re at it, lock down your username on other platforms if it’s still available. People may come looking for your username. There’s no telling what could happen, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
