As the U.S. moves closer to a TikTok ban, influencers in Canada worry
As the United States moves closer to banning TikTok, influencers in Canada who have large American audi‐ ences are worried they'll lose those eyeballs and the accompanying revenue.
TikTok says its video app is used by hundreds of mil‐ lions around the world.
In Canada, research re‐ leased by Toronto Metropoli‐ tan University indicates that of all social media platforms, TikTok had the largest in‐ crease in adult users in 2022 compared to 2020. With much of that audience based in the U.S., some influencers worry they'll have to build their following from the ground up.
"A large portion of our fol‐ lowing comes from the U.S., although we are very Canadi‐ an at core," said Wasef Yasin, a performer with the London, Ont.-based Al-Asala Dabke Group, which boasts more than a million followers on TikTok.
Last Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives proposed for China-based tech company ByteDance to either sell TikTok within 180 days or the social media app would face a ban, which would make it illegal for app stores and web servers in the U.S. to host, maintain, distrib‐ ute or feature the site.
The bill still needs to be approved by the Senate, then signed into law by President Joe Biden.
Ban could set group '10 steps back'
A ban would mean Al-Asala Dabke would lose a large portion of its audience on TikTok, Yasin said. The group would have to explore other social media platforms, he added, "which will require us to take 10 steps backwards. Then hopefully [we will] work twice as hard to regain that following."
Dabke is a popular folk dance in areas of the Middle East, including among Pales‐ tinians and in Lebanon and Jordan. Al-Asala Dabke was formed in 2007 and is con‐ sidered Canada's oldest dabke group.
The performers rely on social media to get interna‐ tional bookings, Yasin said.
While there were rumours about the U.S. banning Tik‐ Tok during the pandemic, Yasin said it "seems a little bit more real" now that the U.S House bill has passed.
Alternative platforms to connect audience
Other London-based TikTok users remain optimistic.
"TikTok has just gotten too big for it to completely disappear," said Omar Zabi‐ an, who goes by @real‐ bigomz and has amassed more than 800,000 TikTok followers.
Zabian uses the app's cre‐ ator tool to track where his followers are located and found 65 per cent of his audi‐ ence is based in the U.S.
Since the House vote, Zabian has been redirecting his followers to his Twitch and Instagram accounts as a backup plan, he said.
"I never thought it would actually get this close," said Zabian. "I have been working lately to not push people away from my TikTok, but to disperse my audience so I would have some on Insta‐ gram and some on Twitch."
But he is hanging on to hope that the U.S. won't ban TikTok as long as American buyers gain a large portion of TikTok's earnings, Zabian said.
If there's a U.S. ban, Sabaa Sari, a full-time lifestyle blogger on TikTok with more than 165,000 followers, is op‐ timistic American users will find loopholes to download the social media app.
"When I go to Jordan government bans TikTok there, but all the people are using TikTok," said Sari. "So even if they banned TikTok, people would figure out how to still use it. They're just gonna download the VPN."
She posts on TikTok about three times a week but only makes money from it through livestreams, which doesn't interest her, Sari said. Instead, TikTok drives people to her Instagram page.
If there's a U.S. ban, she said, she'd continue to use her Instagram, where she has more than 90,000 followers and earns a living through brand deals, sponsorships and posts.