Some American creators, anxious about a looming TikTok ban, are looking at other platforms

On By Littum

The clock is ticking for US creators who say they are both nervous and frustrated as they prepare for a potential nationwide ban on TikTok next month.

A bill signed by President Joe Biden this year requires TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform to an American company or face a ban — set to take effect Jan. 19, the day before President-elect Donald Trump joins. . The Supreme Court said it will take up TikTok’s appeal on January 10.

“So many people have found connection, communities and people’s livelihoods have now been built from TikTok,” said Jenn Ficarra, a Los Angeles-based writer who used TikTok to help start a baby-name consulting business as a side hit. “I’m just really horrified and annoyed and angry that something that’s instrumental to so many people’s livelihoods is being taken away.”

Lawmakers who pushed for a ban argue that TikTok’s Chinese owner poses a national security threat to the United States. But too many For American creators who have come to rely on it as their main source of income, losing it would mean looking for new ways to sustain their careers and rebuild their personal brands.

In recent weeks, hundreds of TikTok users like Ficcarra have lamented the looming ban, posting videos showing their anguish, anger and grief as they prepare to lose access to it.

“There’s going to have to be sacrifices, and of course it makes me worry about the day-to-day stuff, like groceries, rent, all those kinds of things,” said Jonathan Miller, a songwriter and music commentator who has been a full-time creator. since 2010.

Creators like Miller — who have amassed a following on TikTok but aren’t necessarily considered household names — are hoping to turn to other platforms to make up for the income they expect to lose from the potential ends of their TikTok careers.

In a lawsuit this month, TikTok claimed American small businesses and social media creators would losing $1.3 billion in earnings within just one month of a shutdown.

TikTok is the most used platform by brands that engage in influencer marketing, according to a latest report by the Influencer Marketing Hub, which also found that 50% of influencer marketers believe TikTok delivers the best return on investment for short-form video content. It has become a giant in the emerging creator economy, which includes millions of social media personalities who make money through brand deals, platform monetization and audience subscriptions. Research from Goldman Sachs last year predicted that the total market opportunity for the creator’s economy could reach 480 billion dollars before 2027.

Cole Mason, co-founder of creator marketing firm Pearpop, said he’s optimistic creators will adapt if there is a ban.

“Creators will be a powerful force behind our culture, with or without TikTok,” he said in an email. “Ultimately, where creative goes, audiences and brands follow.”

As they prepare for the reality of losing a portion of their regular income, some TikTok creators have already started building their following elsewhere.

Miller, who has about 230,000 TikTok followers, said he earns the majority of his income through TikTok’s Creator Fund (which pays based on views and engagement) and live streams. Pending a ban, he has used his TikTok page to cross-promote his YouTube and Instagram accounts. He plans to test new types of content to better accommodate these platforms.

Fashion and beauty creator Kalita Hon, who said about 70% of her income comes from TikTok, mostly through brand deals, has a similar strategy. She said she plans to shift her focus to Instagram Reels with the hope that fashion brands are also more likely to move there in the wake of a ban.

But she said she doesn’t expect to bring her 245,000 TikTok followers with her because the audience is “very specific” for that platform.

“TikTok has so much culture that’s so specific to the app because there are certain videos that will go crazy viral and then it’ll become, like, the next inside joke,” Hon said.

Some creators, like Taylor Pare, argue that if a ban goes into effect, creators whose income came primarily from TikTok should be eligible for unemployment benefits. The app accounts for about 90% to 95% of her income, she said.

“Maybe if you’re making millions of dollars, you’re probably ready, but I think there are people who really trust this and they’ve made this their job,” said Pare, a full-time TikTok creator who has built up an audience. of more than 90,000 followers talking about dating in New York City. “And if the government feels we can’t have this, I feel there needs to be some compensation or stimulus financially.”

There has also been early buzz around possible replacements for TikTok. Some creators and users have mentioned several new apps — such as Clapper and an as-yet-unlaunched app called Neptune — as possibilities.

Although Neptune has only been in the works since May, its CEO Ashley Darling said the sudden “mass panic and hysteria” over TikTok’s looming ban injected so much user interest in the new app that her team is pushing the release date forward to next spring, when beta testing begins already in January.

Mason of Pearpop said that “the creative economy rewards versatile talent.”

If the government feels that we must not have this, I feel that there must be some compensation or stimulus financially.

— Tiktok creator Taylor Pare

“The TikTok ban, if it goes into effect, will be only the latest in a long history of reinvention by creators and digital marketers,” he said, adding later in his email that “before the rise of TikTok, we saw the rise and the fall of Dubsmash, Vine, and countless other platforms without any US regulatory action.The same community overcoming sudden algorithm changes, the switch from long to short video, and a trend cycle that morphs from per minute, can navigate a TikTok ban.”

Still, some, like Hon, are skeptical of all TikTok copycats.

“I think if anything, people will just migrate to apps that are already established and have the notoriety,” she said.

Because a ban would primarily affect US TikTok users, the only people who would have incentives to join a new app would be Americans, Hon said, with the possible addition of non-US users hoping to follow their favorite creators there again.

Others, like Ficarra, foresee the challenges they would have in switching gears — but said they feel it would open up new opportunities for smaller creators.

“I’m not afraid of the hard work it’s going to take, because obviously I did that with my business,” Ficarra said. “And I think there’s something exciting about a new platform coming up.”

For Miller, joining a new app would feel like déjà vu from the years before TikTok, when other platforms like Vine were the go-to.

“We all moved to TikTok. We all moved to YouTube. We all moved to Instagram. … I joined BlueSky, which is kind of slowly replacing Twitter, maybe,” Miller said. “So if the right platform comes along , why not?”