TikTok creators left in limbo while awaiting decision on potential platform ban

Will TikTok be banned this month?

That’s the pressing question that keeps creators and small business owners in limbo as they wait for a decision that could upend their livelihoods. The popular app’s fate will be decided by the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on Jan. 10 on a law requiring TikTok to cut ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a U.S. ban.

The crux of the matter is whether the law violates the First Amendment, with TikTok and its allies arguing that it does. The US government, which considers the platform a national security risk, says no.

For creators, TikTok’s doomsday predictions are nothing new since newly elected President Donald Trump first tried to ban the platform via executive order during his first term. But despite Trump’s recent statements indicating that he now wants TikTok to survive, the prospect of a ban has never been more immediate than it is now, with the Supreme Court serving as the final arbiter.

If the government prevails, as it did in a lower court, TikTok says it will shutter its U.S. platform on Jan. 19, leaving creators to redefine their future.

“A lot of my other creative friends are all freaking out. But I remain calm,” said Gillian Johnson, who benefited financially from TikTok’s live features and rewards program, which allowed creators to generate higher revenue potential by posting high-quality original content. The 22-year-old filmmaker and recent college graduate uses her TikTok earnings to fund her equipment for projects like camera lens and editing software for her short films ‘Gambit’ and ‘Awaken! My neighbor.”

Johnson said the idea of ​​TikTok disappearing is “hard to accept.”

Many creators have taken to TikTok to express their frustrations and are grappling with the possibility that the platform they invested so much in could soon disappear. Online communities are at risk of disruption, and the economic fallout could be especially devastating for those who rely primarily on TikTok and have given up full-time jobs to build careers and incomes around their content.

For some, the uncertainty has led them to question whether they should continue creating content at all, according to Johnson, who says she knows creators who have thought about quitting. But Nicla Bartoli, the vice president of sales at The Influencer Marketing Factory, said the creators she’s contacted haven’t been too concerned, as news of a possible TikTok ban has emerged over the years has been mentioned repeatedly and then disappeared.

“I think a lot of people think this isn’t going to happen,” says Bartoli, whose agency works to connect influencers and brands.

It is unclear how quickly the Supreme Court will rule. But the court could move quickly to prevent the law from taking effect if at least five of the nine justices deem it unconstitutional.

Trump, for his part, has already asked the judges to pause the ban so that he can give his opinion after he comes to power. In a brief letter — written by his pick for attorney general — Trump called the First Amendment implications of a TikTok ban “sweeping and troubling” and said he wants a “negotiated resolution” to the issue, something the administration -Biden had pursued in vain.

While they wait for the dust to settle in Washington, some creators are exploring alternative ways to promote themselves or their businesses, encouraging users to follow them on other social media platforms or investing more time in producing non-TikTok content .

Johnson says she is already planning her next move and exploring alternative options. While she hasn’t yet found a niche like TikTok, she’s starting to spend more and more time on other platforms, like Instagram and YouTube, both of which are expected to benefit financially if TikTok goes away.

The so-called creator economy, powered in part by TikTok, could be worth $480 billion by 2027, according to a report from Goldman Sachs.

Since the opportunity to monetize exists across platforms, a large number of creators have already diversified their social media presence. However, many TikTok creators have credited the platform – and its algorithm – with a kind of exposure they didn’t get on other platforms. Some say it has also given impetus and opportunity to creators of color and people from other marginalized groups.

Despite concerns about TikTok’s fate, industry analysts note that creators generally avoid major changes, such as leaving the platform, until something actually happens.

“I’m worried, but in a strange way I’m also trying to be hopeful,” says Brandon Hurst, who credits TikTok with rescuing his company from obscurity and propelling it to rapid growth.

A year after joining TikTok, Hurst, 30, who sells plants, said his sales doubled, more than the traction he struggled to gain on Instagram. He built his customer base through the live feature on TikTok, which allowed him to sell more than 77,000 plants. The business is booming so much that he says he now employs five people, including his husband and mother.

“For me, this has been my only way of doing business,” Hurst said.

Billion Dollar Boy, a New York-based influencer marketing agency, has advised creators to download all their TikTok content into a personal portfolio, which is especially important for those who primarily post on the platform, says Edward East, the founder and group from the office. CEO. This can help them quickly build their audience elsewhere. Additionally, it can serve as a resume for brands that may want to partner with them for product advertising, East said.

But until the Jan. 19 deadline arrives, East says creators should continue posting regularly on TikTok, which has 170 million month-long U.S. users and remains highly effective at reaching audiences.

If the Supreme Court does not delay the ban, as Trump is asking them to do, app stores and internet service providers would have to stop providing services to TikTok by January 19. That means anyone who doesn’t have TikTok on their phone. couldn’t download it. TikTok users would continue to have access, but the bans — which will prevent them from updating the app — will ultimately make the app “unworkable,” the Justice Department said.

TikTok said in court documents that it estimates a month-long shutdown would result in the platform losing about a third of its daily users in the US. The company claims that a shutdown, even if temporary, will cause irreparable damage to the platform, a legal barrier used by judges to determine whether to curb a law facing a challenge. Within three weeks, Americans will know whether the Supreme Court agrees.