Users aren’t ready to quit on TikTok
that urged them to “let Congress know what TikTok means to you and tell them to vote NO.” That didn’t stop the House from voting 352-65 on a bill that, if passed, would give ByteDance an ultimatum: Sell TikTok, or it will be banned nationwide.
ByteDance is a Beijing-based technology firm that owns and operates both TikTok and Douyin, the app’s original Chinese counterpart. The overwhelming support this legislation has received seems largely centered around the notion that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over American users’ data and use TikTok to spread misinformation during a presidential election year.
“It is critically important that the American people, especially TikTok users, understand the national security issues at stake,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, RTenn., said last week in a joint statement to ABC News.
It’s unclear when (or if) the Senate will vote on the TikTok bill. President Joe Biden said on March 8 that if Congress passes the legislation, “I’ll sign it.” That endorsement at least temporarily aligned Biden with Donald Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok on similar grounds during his presidency.
Pittsburgh TikTokers sympathize with concerns about privacy and fake news on social media. That said, they generally don’t believe shepherding through this kind of legislation is the best use of lawmakers’ time and energy “when there are way bigger problems in the world to focus on,” as Ortiz put it.
“I just think TikTok is way too powerful, especially in America, for it to just go away,” she continued. “I just have a feeling that nothing is going to happen. If it does go away, there are so many other platforms that people go on.”
Hunter Prosper, a 28-year-old Bloomfield resident with more than 6.3 million TikTok followers, doesn’t appreciate politicians assuming that “TikTok is acting as a bad player” and would rather they tackle issues like data-sharing and intentional deception across all social media platforms — “instead of singling out one.”
“There are a lot of moving parts that people have to pay attention to,” Prosper said. “I want everyone in the world’s privacy to be secure. ... But I just want to make sure it’s coming from a good place.”
Frightening realities
Prosper is a traveling nurse who built a loyal TikTok following mostlythrough his popular “Stories from a Stranger” and “Notes from a Stranger” video series. Like many creators, Prosper monetizes his account through the company’s Creativity Program Beta that allows the app’s most successful users to reap monetary rewards “based on qualified views and RPM (average gross revenue per 1,000 qualifiedviews),” according to TikTok.
A recent ZipRecruiter analysis determined that, as of March 21, the average revenue TikTok influencers in the U.S. generate per year is $131,874.
In Prosper’s experience, TikTok has given both its creators and an estimated 7 million small businesses the necessary “kindling for creating a community” that has allowed them to thrive both socially and economically. He thinks that about half of his annual income comes from the Creativity Program Beta and approximately 75% is through TikTok in total, after also factoring in brand deals and speaking engagements.
“It’s certainly frightening, especially when I think about creators,” Prosper said of a potential ban. “This is their livelihood. We’re in an age and era where you can be a content creator on different platforms. The fact that one might be taken away is scary, and sets scary precedents.”
Demi Schweers, 30, is a local stay-at-home mom whose @demiandtom TikTok channel, which she runs with her software salesman husband, Tom Schweers, has tallied more than 1.9 million followers since 2021. Their channel focuses on relationship and parenting stories, updates on their fertility journey and Demi’s candidness about her ongoing battle with multiple sclerosis.
She said that about 80% of their total income stems from the Creativity Program Beta, partnerships through TikTok and other social media sites, and affiliate links through Amazon.
“Being someone within content creation whose primary community is on TikTok, that definitely is a little bit frightening to think that job security may be disappearing within the next few months,” Schweers said. “In the same respect, it’s something I’ve always had within my mind, which is why we created our own brand and multiple streams of income with it.”
Eryn McCabe, a 31-year-old Lawrenceville resident who specializes in anime content, thinks that her more than 161,000 TikTok followers have helped provide “maybe 20%” of her family’s monetary gains. For her, TikTok has served as a great means of “escalating your other social media platforms,” getting invited to anime conventions around the country and making new friends in that relatively niche community.
“Everybody in Congress is like, ‘We need to be thinking about future generations,’ ” she said. “How are future generations supposed to have this best life or achieve this American dream that so many of you want for us if you take away the fundamentals of how we can achieve that?”
What’s next?
TikTok has become a valuable form of supplemental income, a virtual meeting place for likeminded creators and a news source for many younger Americans. A 2023 Pew Research Center report found that about a third of Americans ages 18-29 “say they regularly get news” on TikTok.
Mary Ours, a KDKA-TV meteorologist who danced and reported her way to more than 27,000 TikTok followers, has observed that phenomenon up close while visiting local schools.
She always records either a “Mary Breaks Down Your Hours” or “Wacky Weather Wednesdays” segment with the students. They tell her, “It’s so cool that someone from the news is on social media.”
“There’s a generation that’s evolving,” Ours continued. “It’s really hard to get the younger generation to watch the news. Nowadays, it’s not the main viewers. One day, it’s going to be the main viewers.”
Any scenario that results in the U.S. losing access to TikTok sounds to McCabe like “an issue where our freedomof speech is impacted.”
“It definitely makes you think and wonder, if they ban this social media, what’s next?” Schweers posited.
Most of these folks also have robust Instagram and YouTube followings, but Ortiz said those platforms still “have not mastered the editing part” as well as TikTok. Schweers also prefers TikTok to the more curated content on Instagram and the lack of true social networking on YouTube.
For her, TikTok videos feel “like a FaceTime call with a friend” that she’s hoping the federal government isn’t about to hang up on for good.
“I don’t think they understand how it’s actually helping our economy and helping us as individuals actually grow together as a community,” Schweers said. “We’ve been so divided lately, and I feel like it’s helped us actually grow together more than apart.”