US content creators worry about economic damage from TikTok ban

Ayman Chaudhary has turned his love of reading into TikTok content, posting his reviews of great books on the video-sharing platform to spread his hobby to everyone and earn a portion of his income.

But now, the young woman's livelihood appears to be at risk as TikTok prepares to be banned in the US.

“It’s essential for small businesses and content creators. It’s my full-time job. It really worries me to live in a country that would pass bans like this instead of focusing on what’s really important, like gun control, health care and education,” the 23-year-old Chicago resident told AFP.

On April 24, the US Congress took a decisive step to force ByteDance to ban TikTok from social media. A bill requiring TikTok to be sold or banned was passed by both houses and signed into law by President Joe Biden.

US and other Western officials have raised alarms about TikTok’s popularity with young people, accusing it of allowing China to collect data and spy on users. The video-sharing app has 70 million users in the US alone.

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that would force TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a ban across the US. Critics have also said that TikTok is a propaganda channel for China, a claim that TikTok and China have strongly denied.

TikTok issued a statement after the April 20 House vote, saying it was unfortunate that lawmakers were trying to block passage of a ban bill that would trample on the free speech of 170 million Americans, destroy 7 million businesses and shut down a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy annually and supports more than 224,000 jobs.

Creators in the US have expressed disappointment with the US Congress’ decision. “Everyone involved in deciding whether this platform should be banned or not is turning a blind eye to how it will affect all small businesses,” said Bilal Rehman, a TikTok promoter of interior design projects with nearly 500,000 followers. “They don’t really understand social media and how it works.”

A TikTok ban would be a particularly heavy blow to startups, according to eMarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg.

“Social media has made commerce easy for everyone, and TikTok has really accelerated that. It’s become a key platform for many small businesses, especially those that operate in niche industries or sell unique products,” eMarketer explains.

One factor that sets TikTok apart from rival platforms is the potential for videos to go viral quickly thanks to its highly engaged audience and smart algorithms, according to analyst Enberg.

Damian Rollison, director of markets at SOCI, says younger generations are using TikTok as a sort of search engine, doing searches they might find on Google and seeing what the algorithm can do. “It feels like TikTok was created by your peers, so they can tell you about any topic that might come up,” Rollison says.

Meanwhile, creators also find a difference when operating on TikTok. "TikTok has a lot more humor and creativity than what I see on Instagram," Chaudhary said. For his part, Rehman shared: "What I love most about TikTok is that it almost feels like you're on a FaceTime call with your friends. It feels really real."