The TikTok Ban Would Be Social Media’s First Extinction-Level Event

Biden administration Attorney General Elizabeth B. Preloger said the Chinese government could use TikTok to not only contact Americans but also to spy on them, and that Congress had every right to enact a ban. insisted. “It’s about trying to close vulnerabilities that foreign adversaries could exploit,” she said. Dozens of people outside the courtroom TikTok users unite With app support. Given the January 19 deadline, the court is likely to issue its decision next week, and its ruling could have a lasting impact on the future of social media for creators. Even if it goes into effect, it remains unclear whether or how President-elect Trump will enforce the ban after he takes office.

“At the end of the day, you’re going to feel like you’ve lost everything,” Dunn says when asked about the ban. “I don’t think people realize that this is how I keep a roof over my head. It’s like when people say your company is about to go bankrupt and you can’t control it. It’s something.”

In addition to his deals with brands, Dan also participates in TikTok’s creator rewards program. pay the creator To create minutes of original content, you need at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 monthly views. Dunn, 30, said that between brand partnerships and money earned through the program, he averaged “several five-figure months” in 2024. “The job and income losses from this will be far greater than the national security risks,” he says.

TikTok Shop, the app’s e-commerce feature, was a game-changer for small business owners when it debuted in September 2023. After getting through some early hiccups (including snail slime, among others), the TikTok Shop has proven to be formidable. of the app Proliferation of vendors It has outperformed competitors like Amazon, which TikTok hopes to eventually supplant (or at least dethrone) Amazon. Beauty products and women’s clothing are often the best-selling items across the platform. According to ShopifyBy 2023, 12% of TikTok shops will be based in the US; 45 percent Percentage of Americans who made a purchase through the TikTok Shop. in 2023US daily sales exceeded $7 million.

Renee McClintock, a 29-year-old mother of two, is one of the app’s more tenacious entrepreneurs. Electrolyte packs, cotton candy machines, iPhone cases, blue jeans, vaginal probiotic gummies, you name it! Last summer, video An article detailing how much she earned in one week ($4,764.63) went viral. McClintock declined to speak with me for this article—she only does paid collaborations starting at $150, she wrote in an email—but since July, her total He said merchandise trading volume was $600,000.

TikTok isn’t the only platform where creators can make money, but it seems to be the exception. YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch all offer different routes for users to earn money through ads and affiliate links. But they don’t have anything like TikTok, said John Selman, vice president of influencer marketing at BenLabs, an agency that works with influencers as clients. colin keys, savage mom lifeand Amaury Guichon.