This month, will TikTok be banned?
As they await a verdict that might completely change their livelihoods, creators and small business owners are in a state of tense limbo due to this urgent question. The Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on January 10 over a law mandating that TikTok sever its ties with its Chinese parent firm, ByteDance, or risk a U.S. ban, will decide the destiny of the well-known app.
TikTok and its creative backers contend that the law violates the First Amendment, which is at the center of the lawsuit. The platform does not, according to the U.S. government, which views it as a national security threat.
Since President-elect Donald Trump attempted to outlaw TikTok through executive order during his first term, creators are accustomed to the platform’s doomsday scenarios. However, with the Supreme Court acting as the ultimate arbitrator, the possibility of a ban has never been more imminent, even though Trump has recently stated that he now wants TikTok to remain.
TikTok claims that it would shut down its U.S. platform by January 19 if the government wins, as it did in a lower court, leaving creators to rethink their futures.
My other artistic friends and I are all going crazy. “But I’m staying calm,” said Gillian Johnson, who profited financially from TikTok’s rewards program and live function, which enabled producers to broadcast original, high-quality video and increase their potential revenue. The 22-year-old filmmaker, who recently graduated from college, utilizes the money she makes on TikTok to help pay for things like a camera lens and editing software for her short films, Awaken and Gambit! My neighbor.
According to Johnson, it’s difficult to accept that TikTok will go.
Numerous producers have expressed their annoyance on TikTok, struggling with the thought that the platform in which they have made such significant investments may soon vanish. Online communities run the risk of being upended, and people who rely heavily on TikTok and have quit full-time employment to focus on their content in order to create careers and incomes could suffer greatly from the economic impact.
Johnson claims to know creators who have been considering leaving because of the uncertainty, which has caused others to wonder if they should even keep making stuff. However, given rumors of a possible TikTok ban have surfaced and then subsided over the years, Nicla Bartoli, vice president of sales at The Influencer Marketing Factory, said the creators she has spoken with have not been very concerned.
Bartoli, whose agency pairs businesses with influencers, stated, “I think a good chunk think it is not going to happen.”
The Supreme Court’s decision-making timeline is uncertain. However, if at least five of the nine justices believe the bill is unconstitutional, the court might move quickly to prevent it from taking effect.
For his part, Trump has already requested that the justices halt the order until he has had a chance to comment. Trump termed the First Amendment ramifications of a TikTok ban “sweeping and troubling” in a brief filed by his nominee for attorney general. He also stated that he seeks a negotiated solution to the problem, which the Biden administration had unsuccessfully sought.
Some producers are looking at other ways to market themselves or their businesses while they wait for things to calm down in Washington. They may be urging fans to follow them on other social networking sites or devoting more time to creating content that isn’t TikTok-related.
Johnson claims that she is already planning her next course of action and looking into other options. She has started spending more time on other sites, including YouTube and Instagram, which are predicted to gain financially if TikTok disappears, even though she hasn’t found a place quite like it.
A Goldman Sachs analysis estimates that by 2027, the so-called creative economy—which has been aided by TikTok—could be valued at $480 billion.
Many producers have already expanded their social media presence because there are numerous channels where material can be monetized. Nonetheless, a lot of TikTok producers have given the app and its algorithm credit for providing them with a kind of visibility that they were not able to get on other platforms. According to some, it has also given creators of color and members of other underrepresented groups more chances.
Despite concerns about TikTok’s future, industry watchers observe that creators are typically waiting for something to happen before making significant changes, such as leaving the platform.
Brandon Hurst, who attributes his company’s rapid growth and rescue from obscurity to TikTok, said, “I’m anxious but trying to be hopeful in a weird way.”
Hurst, a 30-year-old plant vendor, claimed that his sales doubled a year after he joined TikTok, surpassing the traction he had found difficult to get on Instagram. He sold over 77,000 plants thanks to TikTok’s live feature, which helped him grow his clientele. He claims that his company has grown to the point where he now employs five people, including his mother and husband.
Hurst stated, “This has been my only method of conducting business.”
According to Edward East, the founder and group CEO of Billion Dollar Boy, an influencer marketing firm with headquarters in New York, artists are urged to download all of their TikTok material into a personal portfolio. This is particularly crucial for individuals who post on the network frequently. They can swiftly expand their audiences elsewhere by doing this. According to East, it can also be used as a CV by companies looking to collaborate with them on product ads.
However, East advised producers to keep posting frequently on TikTok, which has 170 million monthly viewers in the United States and is still a very successful platform for reaching audiences, until the deadline of January 19.
App retailers and internet service providers would have to cease serving TikTok by January 19 if the Supreme Court does not postpone the ban, as Trump is requesting. Therefore, it would be impossible for anyone without TikTok on their phone to download it. According to the Justice Department, TikTok users would still be able to access the app, but the restrictions that will stop them from updating it will eventually render it unusable.
According to court filings, TikTok estimates that a one-month shutdown would result in the loss of about one-third of its daily users in the United States. The business claims that a closure, even if it is just temporary, will injure it irreparably. Judges utilize this legal hurdle to decide whether to halt a statute that is being challenged. If the Supreme Court agrees, Americans will know in less than three weeks.
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