Nearly 10 years ago, Alex Pearlman gave up his dream of having a career as a comedian, leaving the stage for an office to find a job in customer service.
He then began posting random jokes and comments about pop culture and politics on TikTok. Just over 2.5 million subscribers later, he quit his “nine to five” job and recently planned his first national tour of the United States.
Mr. Pearlman is among many American content creators who are shocked by the bill that was passed earlier this week by the United States House of Representatives which could lead, if passed by the Senate and ratified by President Joe Biden, to a national ban on TikTok.
The issue at the heart of this bill is the connection between TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and the Chinese government. American lawmakers fear that the Chinese government, under certain laws, could get its hands on the data of American users who have a TikTok account.
On the other hand, content creators argue that banning the popular short-video sharing app would harm countless people and businesses who rely on TikTok for a significant portion of their income.
Mr. Pearlman, who lives in suburban Philadelphia, says TikTok changed his life, allowing him to live his dream, support his family and spend the first three months of his newborn’s life at home. House. His customer service job only offered him three weeks of paternity leave, of which only two weeks were paid.
“I take nothing for granted on this platform,” emphasizes Mr. Pearlman. TikTok has been the driving force of American social media for the past four years. Something will take its place if TikTok disappears tomorrow. Will it be better or worse? Congress can’t know that. »
Rapid growth
Launched in 2016, TikTok quickly gained popularity, growing faster than Instagram, YouTube or Facebook.
However, US lawmakers, law enforcement and intelligence officials are concerned about the security of user data, the possibility of content unfavorable to the Chinese government being removed from the platform, and the possibility that the platform can promote pro-Beijing propaganda.
TikTok denies all of these allegations and, to date, the US government has not provided any evidence that the social network shared the data of its US users with Chinese authorities.
The House of Representatives’ passage of the bill threatening TikTok’s presence in the United States comes against a backdrop where the pandemic has led to enormous growth in digital marketing.
Jensen Savannah, a 29-year-old from Charlotte, started creating videos on TikTok to document her travels to North and South Carolina during the pandemic. Now a full-time influencer, she has tripled her income since leaving her job selling telecommunications services.
“Content creators should almost be seen as the new print media or the new form of radio and television advertising, in his opinion. An investment with an influencer will yield much more than traditional advertising. »
For everyone
Some content creators describe TikTok as a kind of digital equalizer, providing a platform for diverse people to build their audiences.
“I’ve always had Twitter, I’ve had Facebook, I’ve had Instagram. But TikTok was the first social network where, if you want to find someone who looks like you and represents you in any way, you can find them,” mentions Joshua Dairen, a content creator from Alabama.
Mr. Dairen makes videos about ghost stories, urban legends and his state’s history. He believes banning TikTok would set “a dangerous precedent for the power our highest levels of government can wield.”
Other content creators add that the app serves as both a financial and social safety net.
Chris Bautista, owner of a food truck in Los Angeles that serves TV and movie sets, started using TikTok during the pandemic to connect with members of the LGBTQ+ community and show support for people who might be going through difficult times.
Mr. Bautista, now 37, grew up in a conservative Christian community in suburban Los Angeles and did not reveal his sexual orientation until his late 20s.
As a teenager, he struggled with mental health issues and considered taking his own life. By starting TikTok, he wanted to create a resource that he could have used when he was a teenager.
“I find the corners of TikTok that I’m in to be extremely important and profound,” he says, adding that it would be “heartbreaking” to see the app banned.
Mr. Bautista didn’t start posting on TikTok with the intention of making it his full-time job, but the money he received from his posts came at the right time: without the extra income that he earned through TikTok during the pandemic and year-long strikes in Hollywood, his business reportedly closed its doors.
Not the real issue
Almost since its inception, concerns have been raised about the addictive nature of TikTok, especially for young people.
Marcus Bridgewater, a former private school teacher and administrator who owns his own business and posts gardening videos on TikTok, wants Congress to focus on those issues, not whether the app can be controlled by China.
“Social networks are a powerful tool,” he recalls. And powerful tools are capable of helping us transcend, but in their transcendence they are also capable of completely separating us from those we love.
“What bothers me is that I feel like for many Americans, TikTok and social media in general has become a complaint bureau to explain all of our problems. But in a case like this, the solution is not just to close the complaints office. »