Bay Area content creators anxiously await potential TikTok ban
SAN FRANCISCO — With just days left before the Supreme Court decides the fate of TikTok nationwide, Bay Area content creators are anxiously waiting for the ruling.
"Every single day, you're just kind of holding your breath and waiting to see what happens," Kara Harms, known as 'Whimsy Soul' online, said on Tuesday. "I have some brand deals that I'm supposed to post in February. I don't know if I'm going to be able to post those or not. I don't know if I get to complete that contract and get that income."
Harms has been creating content for about 10 years, building an online portfolio stretching beyond TikTok.
That's why, she said, she understands the impact of TikTok and the effect its had on her work.
"I just don't think the algorithms that Instagram or the other platforms would've facilitated my content as a creator like TikTok has," she said. "I quit and went full-time (into content creating) in 2017 and hired my husband in 2018, so that was before TikTok. But I was able to explode our growth and make a better impact on my community once I had TikTok available."
Stef Anderson, known as 'SideofStef' online, also posts on multiple social media platforms like Harms.
Both Anderson and Harms said they felt they were able to establish a better, personal connection with their followers on TikTok.
TikTok has also led to more deals with brands and connections with followers, including in-person meetings.
"The reach is way higher, I find. I feel like the algorithm is a lot more specific. In terms of my meetups, I think most of my people come from TikTok," she said. "The brand partnerships I've gotten through (TikTok) have been out of this world."
Next week, the Supreme Court is expected to uphold a law passed with bipartisan support in Congress last year.
The law requires TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to a government-approved company by Jan. 19. If a sale is not completed by Jan. 19, TikTok would be banned.
The law was passed by Congress due to national security concerns, including the potential that the Chinese government could manipulate content and have access to sensitive user data.
If the ban were to go into effect, TikTok would no longer be available in mobile app stores. Users who already have the app downloaded on their phones would still have access, but new posts and updates would no longer be available.
"It's like a double-edged sword because (TikTok) has a lot of my data. To get payments from TikTok, they have to have a lot of information from me, which was very scary to submit originally. But then I get emails every single day from other companies, saying that my data was compromised in a data leak. So, it's not just TikTok. It's everywhere," Anderson said.
"The fact that the government is going after TikTok because it's owned by a foreign entity? I also worry how that will open up the doors to things down the road. It's a very slippery slope. Are we going to ban the BBC because that's owned by a foreign entity?" Harms said. "If (TikTok) does get banned, have a little grace for everyone on the app. Not just content creators who are losing their incomes, (but also) the small businesses and the people who rely on TikTok for connecting with their customers. It's going to be a rough, rough couple of months."