Almost eight months after U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill to ban or force the sale of TikTok, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law on Dec. 6, 2024. The law stated that the app would be banned on Jan. 19, 2025, unless sold to a non-Chinese company by the app’s parent company ByteDance. As the countdown for the app’s removal in the U.S. creeps closer, the recent Supreme Court hearing of TikTok’s challenge against the ban will determine its fate.
While the Court has yet to rule, the justices will decide whether the government’s fear of national security threats to American data outweighs the proposed violation of users’ First Amendment rights to free speech. For the 170 million Americans on TikTok, its removal would not only revoke an immediate platform for users to find community but also a source of financial dependency.
With 2 million American content creators and 7 million small businesses profiting from the app, the loss of TikTok would hurt a significant amount of its users. Many depend on the app for income through daily posts or promotions for their businesses, as it is known to gain users’ rapid attention on their videos due to the unique algorithm. Many entrepreneurs are dependent on this algorithm to get their business off the ground because it can be more difficult on other platforms such as Instagram or YouTube, contributing to the app’s mass popularity.
With the threat of banning TikTok, these small businesses stand to lose a total of $1 billion in revenue, along with a loss of $300 million for content creators in one month. This would not only devastate advertisement and exposure opportunities for small businesses but even put some creators out of a job as they aren’t guaranteed income on other platforms. Despite the government’s intention with the ban, the U.S. economy would also suffer from the loss of profits. The immense success of small businesses on TikTok has increasingly generated high Gross Domestic Product (GDP) value for the economy, producing $8.5 billion in GDP in 2022. By 2023, they had tripled this to roughly $24.2 billion in GDP.
The loss of TikTok would impact other significant areas of the app, though, dismantling communities of years in the making. While it is now also utilized as a business frontier, the platform was once solely a space for entertainment and shared interests. Unlike most social media algorithms that only target users’ content preferences, TikTok also suggests trending or more diverse content. This can expose users to innumerable different cultures, artists, organizations, tips and even fandoms that led to the app’s inclusive reputation.
As one of the largest global social media platforms, revoking access to TikTok could also be deemed an infringement on Americans’ freedom of expression. As millions nationwide rely on the apps’ engagement-boosting algorithm to voice opinions, discuss current events and even educate viewers, a ban would instill censorship toward users’ ability to speak freely.
While the U.S. government expresses concern that both TikTok and ByteDance are collecting and giving American user’s information to the Chinese government, it wouldn’t make sense for TikTok to be the only banned Chinese company. Others, including Temu and Shein, openly collect user data in America but are exempt from the ban. This poses the question as to whether the U.S. government’s fear of national data security is their central concern, or if the ban could have to do with controlled content.
With five days left before TikTok is to be banned in America, it is vital that the U.S. government recognize both the economic and cultural damage this decision will inflict on American citizens. Instead, government officials should at least consider an extension for the deadline by 270 days as proposed by Senator Ed Markey on Jan. 14. This would allow for the small businesses and content creators on the app more time to navigate a new financial plan as opposed to the month given.