Lifestyle content creator Talia Cadet hasn’t quit her day job, but TikTok has changed her life, she says.
The additional income generated from her viral lists of Black-owned products, books she loves, and local events has made “a huge difference,” especially as a single homeowner in metropolitan Washington.
Cadet, 35, has gained more than 160,000 followers and secured opportunities she never imagined. She has moderated panels that include Essence Fest and worked with large brands and small businesses.
With a ban on the horizon, many Black content creators fear it could cost them essential income or restrict their creative expression. Many U.S. government officials view the app as a national security threat, raising concerns that China could use it to gather private data and disseminate misinformation. While creators are considering a pivot to other platforms, nothing is quite like TikTok, especially for Black communities and other underrepresented groups battling for visibility, Cadet said.
TikTok’s algorithm is unique. While scrolling on the app, it recommends relevant content based on users’ previous searches to determine what videos appear on their “For You” page. You don’t have to follow the person to see their content. At least 16% of TikTok news consumers are Black, a proportion that’s higher than the percentage of Black people in the U.S. Around half of all TikTok accounts followed by U.S. adults are influencers and creators. And the platform generated $15 billion for small and medium-sized businesses and supported 224,000 U.S. jobs in 2023, according to a report commissioned by ByteDance.
For the 170 million Americans on TikTok, it’s the platform where people show up as their “authentic selves, and don’t need the polish and veneer that an Instagram requires,” Cadet told Capital B.
“TikTok has been such a powerful tool in telling our stories, expanding our reach, being a light, a beacon to people who are looking for community, for people who look like them, who live like them,” she said.
It’s also one of the reasons she and seven other content creators are fighting to reverse the ban, which is expected to go into effect Jan. 19 unless TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., sells it. Last week, the diverse group of content creators pleaded their case at the U.S. Supreme Court, saying the federal law President Joe Biden signed in April violates their First Amendment rights and restricts their creative expression.
The high court on Friday ruled in favor of the ban, stating the law doesn’t violate the petitioners’ First Amendment rights.
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the opinion stated. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
Despite the decision, Biden on Thursday said that he wouldn’t enforce the ban, which would take effect the day before he departs the White House, leaving implementation to the next administration. But tech companies would still be liable as long as TikTok is owned by ByteDance.
If the app is shut down, it would be barred from app stores — including Apple’s and Google’s — and internet-hosting networks. If companies violate the law, they would be fined. No new users would be able to download or interact with its content. Additionally, there would be no new updates to the apps that have already been downloaded, and eventually, the app would become unusable. A growing number of TikTok users in America have responded by migrating to Xiaohongshu (Rednote in English), the Chinese equivalent of Instagram.
While Cadet is concerned about the potential loss of income that would result from a TikTok ban, she said it would still be inconsequential because she works as a digital media executive at a D.C. lobbying firm. However, for other creators, the shutdown would be disastrous, given that their entire livelihood is tied to the platform.
Takeisha Lafaye, 31, doesn’t know what she’s going to do without TikTok. After getting fired from her job working at a prison, she transitioned to content creation full time last year. She started her journey on the app sharing an unpleasant experience as an intern at a radio station. Since then, she’s staked her claim as a celebrity blogger with an audience of more than 48,000 people.
The Mississippi Delta native said she’s been able to pay all of her bills because of TikTok. When her content resonates with people, they send her money. Based on engagement, she receives a certain pay rate. She also was invited to Nicki Minaj’s “Gag City” tour last year. If the ban goes through, she would lose her only source of income and the flexibility that comes with an average day of creating content.
“I [can] make a couple videos, lay down, do all this different stuff,” Lafaye told Capital B. “I get to help my family. I take my family to doctor’s appointments, and I have so much time to move around. I’m gonna be sad because it’s gonna be a real inconvenience.”
She’s also frustrated because she’ll no longer be connected to the community she’s built.
“When I got off of Facebook back in 2021, I didn’t realize that these apps are curated. I didn’t realize that they only showed you to a certain group of people. TikTok shows you to the world. … I’ve been talking to people from London, from South Africa,” Lafaye said. “I’m still trying to figure out how to get monetized on other sites.”
In the meantime, Lafaye hopes to get hired as a Spark Driver with Walmart until she can find a job she enjoys or a career in the entertainment industry.
What does the ban tell us about regulation of apps?
According to Sarah Jackson, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, one big question that a TikTok ban would raise is: Why can’t legislators do more to regulate U.S.-based platforms if they’re concerned about social media users?
She explained that platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, which are owned by Meta, and X, which is owned by Elon Musk, have contributed to misinformation, hate speech, and antidemocratic ideas in some form or another at different political moments, but there appears to be less effort from political leaders to rein in these platforms.
“I think that the question before our legislators is: If you think that banning TikTok is the solution, why aren’t you willing to do something as extreme to protect Americans from the platforms that are based here that also have done harm, even as they’ve been spaces that, for some people, have done good?” Jackson told Capital B.
She also noted a Pew story published in December that highlighted several facts about TikTok. Two, in particular, jumped out at her: Left-leaning influencers outnumber right-leaning influencers on TikTok in a way that they don’t on other sites, and Black Americans make up a disproportionate share of TikTok’s news consumers.
These trends, Jackson said, make her wonder whether there’s a correlation between TikTok’s thin political support and the fact that some of its main users are members of communities that are already widely overlooked in U.S. society.
This isn’t the first time the U.S. government has threatened to ban TikTok.
Concerned that China would spy on the U.S. and share users’ data, lawmakers in 2019 launched a national security review of TikTok. It led to the government suing TikTok and ByteDance, which resulted in an order for the company to pay a $5 million fine and comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) regulations. The government accused the company of allowing children to create, view and share videos with adults on the platform and collecting children’s data.
The national security concerns persisted that China could use its laws to retrieve personal information from TikTok. There’s been some reports that suggest the Chinese government has. The following year, then-President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum by way of executive order: Either ByteDance sells TikTok, or the app is shut down. The Associated Press reported that Trump possibly used the threat of a ban to retaliate against China’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite Trump’s effort, federal judges blocked the order, saying that it would “have the effect of shutting down, within the United States, a platform for expressive activity.” Congress in 2022 passed a bill to prohibit the use of TikTok on federal government-issued devices.
In April 2024, Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which makes it illegal for an entity to distribute, maintain, or update a foreign adversary-controlled application in the U.S. through app stores or internet-hosting services. The law specifically names TikTok and ByteDance. It prompted lawsuits by TikTok and ByteDance, the eight content creators, and the nonprofit Based Politics Inc.; all challenged the law on constitutional grounds.
However, TikTok and ByteDance could decide to proceed with a sale before the Jan. 19 deadline. And Trump, who initially opposed the app, could save it when he takes office again. He previously requested that the justices halt the implementation of the law until after his inauguration to give his incoming administration time “to pursue a political resolution of the issues at stake in the case,” his lawyer wrote in December.
Currently, TikTok and ByteDance are facing legal challenges by a bipartisan group of attorneys general over concerns about youth mental health. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission sued for ongoing violations of COPPA.
Is a ban “the will of the people”?
Like others, Christopher Townsend, 33, who goes by Topher, questioned the government’s intentions, citing Facebook’s case in 2018. The company gave Chinese entities, which were flagged by U.S. intelligence, access to data on users’ personal information.
“You were worried about China, and yet, our own American companies are selling our data to the same people. You didn’t do nothin’ to Facebook. I’ve never heard about a potential Facebook ban,” Townsend told Capital B. “You’ve got a standard that you’re arbitrarily using against TikTok and no other platform.”
Townsend, a conservative rapper from Mississippi, is one of the eight content creators suing the government. He hopes that the Supreme Court stays the decision, which will give content creators more time to prepare for what’s next.
Townsend decided to pursue content creation more seriously after being ghosted by his former manager just before he was set to tour nationwide. The military veteran contends that when he put “down the mic, my voice got louder,” and he’s been able to reach more people, amassing more than 2.4 million followers from his blend of music, Bible quizzes, and political content.
His viral influence has led to notable moments, such as Terry Crews creating a video set to his song “Crews” and Chris Pratt sharing DMs after hearing Topher’s Pratt-inspired track, “Everybody Hates Chris.” It’s been that way for other Black artists, too, whether they’re mainstream or aspiring.
Without TikTok, we wouldn’t have food critic Keith Lee, Townsend said. With more than 16.8 million followers on TikTok alone, Lee’s content has often brought minority-owned restaurants exposure that has been good for their businesses.
“We don’t see that on other platforms,” Townsend said. “The government should not be in the business of telling U.S. citizens how we should and where we should consume our information. … That’s the whole point of the First Amendment.”
Though he hasn’t released new music in a year, the tracks he previously posted on TikTok have driven people to purchase his work, generating income for him. Because of the push from TikTok, Townsend said he’s been able to quit working full time. If the platform is banned, it’s “not the end — it’s a pivot,” Townsend said. He plans to build his audience on other platforms, offer digital products through his Pushing Weight brand, and host live events or collaborate with others.
“God opens doors when others close, and this could be an opportunity to build something even bigger,” he said. “Where I go, I’ll bring the same heart, passion, and message. So stick with me — this community isn’t tied to an app. It’s tied to a purpose.”
Texas resident Camille McCallum, 30, has been creating content since she was in high school but began to take it seriously four years ago. The founder of Black Woman on a Mission describes her content as motivational and productivity-focused, aimed at helping people unlock their full potential. This approach has led to viral videos and a following of around 269,000 on TikTok.
During this past election cycle, McCallum crafted videos to share voter registration information and debunk myths about Vice President Kamala Harris. The videos resonated with her audience, leading the former Capitol Hill staffer to receive an invitation to the Democratic National Convention and Congressional Black Caucus Week. The consistency of her content turned her business from “a side gig” into “primary income” that feeds her family, she told Capital B.
“I’ve worked with some of the biggest brands in the world — Google, Microsoft, Dove — and all of that is really based on my TikTok presence,” McCallum said. “TikTok creators are the new media. It’s natural that opportunities are arising from it.”
McCallum believes that a ban “would be detrimental” to small businesses, particularly those owned by women, Black Americans, and other people of color. TikTok offers life-changing, largely free distribution, unlike other platforms that make organic reach more difficult and force businesses to pay for visibility, she added. Like others, she’s working on a plan to pivot to other platforms.
“TikTok has provided a working marketplace for people to sell goods and services in [the] app,” McCallum said. The economic impact is just going to be massive, and we really, really need to be thinking about that and trying to circumvent that in some way.”
Her question for lawmakers: “Is this the will of the people?”
This story has been updated.
