Hours before inauguration, President Donald Trump temporarily suspended enforcement of the ban on TikTok, giving the company 75 days to come to an agreement. However, some users claim the uncertainty of TikTok’s future has already threatened their livelihoods, particularly content creators who rely on the app for income.
For many creators, the thought of losing their community and hard work has been disheartening.
“I just began posting in October,” said Alana Eaton, who shares lifestyle and social media advice on TikTok. “I went from 1,000 to over 14,000 followers in three months, so it definitely sucked to hear that my hard work that I just put in the past couple months was going to be taken away very quickly.”
Some users prepared goodbye videos or took precautions by downloading their videos to use as references for future opportunities. They also began exploring other apps like RedNote and considered moving to YouTube to make longer-form videos.
On Jan. 17, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law requiring TikTok to cut ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a nationwide ban. The following day, the popular video-sharing platform briefly went dark, displaying a message that the app would be inaccessible.
While newer creators are feeling the uncertainty, other creators like Talia Cadet, who has over 160,000 followers on TikTok, have been preparing for this ban for the past year.
As a plaintiff in the TikTok Creator Lawsuit, Cadet and seven other creators have been actively advocating against the federal law signed in April 2024. The group argued before U.S. Supreme Court that the law was a violation of their First Amendment rights and a threat to creative expression.
Cadet has encouraged her followers to stay connected with her through other social platforms, migrating her audience to platforms like Substack and Instagram before the ban. However, she remains critical of Tiktok’s current state.
“The platform has definitely changed since it came back on Sunday,” she said. “Even as a plaintiff in the TikTok lawsuit, the app coming back under these circumstances, I don’t see it as a win.”
Cadet said the ban has already disrupted brand partnerships and creator revenue, with increased content stipulations and suppression on the app.
“It’s already impacting creators,” she said. “Suppression is up, censorship is up, and I’m seeing more of my peers receive content violations”
“The energy is off, for both users and creators.”
Adding to these challenges, Cadet said the Creator Fund program is withholding funds for U.S.-based views until an agreement is settled, which has strained creators’ financial stability.
Eaton, who also manages influencers, said the potential ban would have not only impacted her income, but her clients as well. As a manager, she receives 20% of her clients earnings, most of which is tied to TikTok and Instagram.
“Since I recently got monetized, losing that new income from the creator program and TikTok shop, it’s definitely a hard blow,” she said.
While the app’s unbanning has offered temporary relief, the uncertainty surrounding its future makes it challenging for creators to build their platforms.
“As I’m growing on TikTok, it’s kind of iffy because I’m happy about the growth and that it’s unbanned, but it’s also like I might lose it in 75 days,” Eaton said. “The future is so uncertain.”
Other creators are reconsidering their strategies entirely. Avaly Clarke, a TikToker with over 1,900 followers, said the ban has impacted her future career plans in social media.
“It’s made me focus on diversifying my content and not solely relying on one platform,” Clarke said. “It made me realize that social media is not promised, and I need to take advantage of every opportunity.”
For some creators, TikTok is more than a platform; it’s a community.
Kamau Lewis, a George Washington University alumnus, started making TikTok to express his creativity and reconnect with his peers on campus after the pandemic’s isolation. While he did not make much money off content creation, the real payoff for him was the reaction to his video.
“It brought me a lot of popularity on my college campus, because I made TikToks talking about the school or just making fun of my school,” he said.
Lewis also said being a college content creator came with a lot of work.
“Like anything you do, it felt like a job at one point, you know, posting videos, trying to go viral,” he said. “I did put pressure on myself to succeed and do well, and it was a lot sometimes.”
Nataiya Johnson, a sports medicine major at Howard University, creates TikToks as a creative outlet and regularly uses other apps like Instagram. For Johnson, TikTok still comes out on top for its versatility.
“It gave me a tremendous amount of information,” she said. “It’s so easy to find your community, connect with them and share your interests and information.”
She is grateful for the opportunity of brand deals through her work with Tiktok, which helps with daily expenses.
If TikTok goes south, Johnson’s backup plan is to utilize other platforms like Instagram reels to continue her content journey.
Ashley Johnson and Imara Moore are reporters for HUNewsService.com.
