Disappointment within the United States rose as the news was announced that the popular app TikTok would be banned. The reasoning behind this ban is that government officials believed that the Chinese-owned app acts as a security threat, and a ban should be instituted to prevent the sharing of users’ data with the Chinese government. Many influencers within the States would be impacted in the case that it stays in place, and, in my opinion, the ban should not go through.
As January 19 approached, the date of the banning, American TikTokers posted what they thought would be their goodbyes as followers watched. Americans had little information revolving around when the ban would be lifted, but President Trump reassured the app’s followers that he would put an effort towards the app’s return. President Trump, who was inaugurated on January 20, signed an executive order giving the app 75 days to find an American buyer. This shows President Trump’s motives to continue providing access to the American people.
Some believe that TikTok’s users will be better off without the app due to the worry of user screen time on the app. The average child spends 1 hour and 53 minutes, per day, on TikTok throughout the United States, not including their time on other social media apps.
“If it’s not TikTok, it’s something else,” said Algebra I teacher Payton Kilgore.
What Kilgore means by this is that if the ban goes through, another app would become the “new thing,” and people would use it as much as they do TikTok. However, Kilgore personally doesn’t have TikTok due the over-personalization of the videos.
“I feel like in some situations it can be helpful to have personalized videos, but it can also keep you from removing yourself from that poor mindset,” Kilgore said.
The app, which is owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, has grown throughout the years since when it was first bought in 2017 and renamed to TikTok from Musical.ly. Since then, the app has grown in fame with its trends that brought more users from all around the world to the app, (including 170 Million active users in the United States). With TikTok being such a mainstream app, I believe that many of its users would be impacted by losing a source of entertainment.
Influencers who gained their fame on the app have their careers on the line, concerning the app’s ban. Certain creators talked about moving their content to Instagram or Youtube, although Instagram doesn’t pay their creators based on the number of followers or views in the same way that Tiktok does.
Content creator Abbie Herbert , like many content creators, came to realize the crisis that could arise in the case of the app’s ban, due to the fact that it was a large source of their income. Herbert makes the majority of her income from TikTok, 72.7K compared to the earnings from Instagram, 17.8K., according to hafi.
Prior to January 19th, Herbert answered her followers’ question of what she’ll do in the event of the app’s ban. She explained that she became a content creator because of her history of dropping out of college. However, she also mentioned that if she had to return back to school, due to the ban, she would study special education, which was her original plan.
“Another dream of mine is owning my own boutique, like I had an online clothing store before TikTok, and having my own store here in Pittsburgh and working there everyday is always a goal,” Herbert said.
An issue with moving content to YouTube is that the main attraction of TikTok is the short videos that gain the attention of its viewers. The average human attention span is 8.25 seconds, and the shortest videos on TikTok can be less than 15 seconds, which is enough to hold the attention of its viewers. This is where YouTube becomes an issue because the length of the videos tend to be longer than the human attention span. According to Creator Handbook, it is more likely that a Tiktok video will become viral due to the set up algorithm within the app, called the For You page. This makes it so that TikTok videos are more likely to gain views unlike Youtube.
Junior Ava Garrison, a frequent TikTok user, has an algorithm revolving around eating healthy and working out. These videos on the app can serve as more than 15 seconds of entertainment, and this yields as a reason that TikTok is beneficial for its users.
“I feel like Instagram and Youtube reels will die off because everything is from TikTok anyways and they’re just reposted,” Garrison said.
Many different companies or personal buyers, like Elon Musk or Mr. Beast, have considered buying the app within the States, but a deal has yet to be sealed. Many Americans have gained hope with President Trump’s extension, but there is no definite chance that the app will be sold by ByteDance to an American buyer.
It’s hard to deny the impact that the app has made on our generation, and how many of the app’s users are influenced or motivated by the videos they’ve watched. Though some believe that without the app, users will be better off without the personalized algorithm that’s within TikTok. The app is now restored in American app stores, though it is still without an American owner, this could mean that the app’s ban is still under consideration.
“TikTok motivates me, and I’m on gym tok [ a gym-focused algorithm] too, so I’m always seeing people at the gym, or eating healthy, so it motivates me to want to do the same,” Garrison said.
