It's been more than four years since Donald Trump first moved to expel TikTok from the United States, and now, just days before the start of Trump's second term as president, that could happen.
It's been more than four years since Donald Trump first moved to expel TikTok from the United States, and now, just days before the start of Trump's second term as president, that could happen.
Last April, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill that officially began the countdown to forcing TikTok parent company ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations. But even later, The mood at the video giant was mostly nonchalant, with a few scattered jokes about "this app disappearing" interspersed between the usual fare.
In the last week, though, the vibe has changed — my favorite creators are posting links to their other social accounts, and viewers are making highlight reels of the hottest moments on the app, and they’re sending their “Chinese spies” Say goodbye and threaten to hand over their data to the Chinese government. A Chinese app called RedNote topped the App Store this week, driven by a wave of "TikTok refugees" trying to recreate the platform experience. It felt a bit like a fever dream on the last day of school.
For many online creatives, this isn’t the first time they’ve had to move to a new space: even on the largest, most stable platforms, reach, engagement, and visibility are constantly changing. But the potential for social media sites of this size to disappear — or slowly crumble to the point of becoming inoperable — is a new threat. For small creators in particular, TikTok is like playing the lottery: You don’t need thousands of followers to make your videos big, and that unpredictability incentivizes regular people to upload content.
It's unclear what will happen to TikTok after January 19. I asked content creators what their game plan was. (Responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.)
"At its peak, from December 2020 to January 2022, about 70% of my sales were through TikTok. Now, it makes up 10% of my sales." Sells slogan sweatshirts, accessories, stickers says Noelle Johansen of . and other products.
“At the peak of TikTok, I was able to reach so many customers easily. Instagram and Twitter were always skeptical about whether content would be seen, but TikTok was very consistent in showing my videos to my followers and potential new customers ," said Johansen edge in an email. “I’ve also made great friends on TikTok from the artist community, and it’s hard to transfer that community to other social media. Most apps function very differently than TikTok, and many people don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with all the new social events and build a platform there.”
Johansen said that going forward, they will focus on X and Instagram sales while working to expand the audiences of Bluesky and Threads.
“I think the ease of use of TikTok opens up a path for a lot of potential creators,” said Kay Poyer, a popular creator of humor and commentary content. “Now we’re seeing a fragmentation point where many will choose to stop or be forced to adapt to older platforms (which tend to be harder to build a following and monetize).”
As for her own plans, Boyer said she would stay put if TikTok wasn't available — smaller platforms like Bluesky or Neptune don't have enough reach yet.
“I’m seeing a huge increase in subscribers on my Substack, The Quiet Part, and an influx of followers on my Instagram and Twitter,” Poyer said edge. "I've personally chosen to make my podcast Meat Bus the flagship of my content. We'll be launching our collection of videos on YouTube sometime next month."
Science journalist and author Bethany Brookshire has been sharing videos about human anatomy on TikTok, Bluesky, Instagram, and YouTube. Brookshire observed differences in audiences across platforms — YouTube, for example, "is not a place to build an audience," citing negative reviews of her work.
“Sometimes I feel like the only ethical way to make anything is to write it on organically sourced vegan stone with handmade chalk”
“I’ve found that people are commenting and engaging more on TikTok, and most importantly, their comments are often touching or funny,” she said. "When I was doing pelvic dissections, a lot of people with uteruses wrote to me and told me they felt seen, that they had a special condition, and they even connected with each other in the comments."
brookshire told edge In email, sharing content anywhere can sometimes be fraught. Between Nazi content on Substack, right-wing sycophants on Meta, and national security concerns on TikTok, it feels like no platform is ideal.
“Sometimes I feel like the only ethical way to make anything is to write it with handmade chalk on an organically sourced vegan stone, and then I try to show it to a person with their permission and then lightly Gently throw it into the ocean to complete its circle of life,” Brookshire said. “But if I want to inform and educate, I need to be where the people are.”
Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in upstate New York uses TikTok to share its message with a new audience—most of the organization’s Instagram followers are already animal rights activists, vegans, or sanctuary supporters.
“TikTok allows us to reach people who don’t even know what an animal sanctuary is,” said social media coordinator Riki Higgins. edge in an email. "While we still primarily raise funds through the Meta platform, we seem to have the greatest educational and advocacy impact when we post on TikTok."
With a small social media and marketing team of two people, Woodstock Farm Sanctuary (like other small businesses and organizations) has to be strategic in how it leverages its efforts. Higgins said YouTube content can be more labor-intensive, and Instagram Reels lacks key features like 2x video speed and the ability to pause videos.
"TikTok users really, really dislike Reels. They see it as a platform where jokes, trends, etc. die, outdated content is recycled, and younger users especially see it as an app only used by older audiences," Higgins explain.
The shelter said that if TikTok becomes inaccessible, it will meet its audience wherever it migrates.
Anna Rangos works in social media, making tech and culture commentary videos, and she's no stranger to having to choose or leave social media platforms to go elsewhere. As a retired sex worker, she has seen firsthand the vulnerability of social media followers.
"You might wake up one day and find your accounts deactivated and then reinstate them? Forget it. Good luck getting any kind of service from Meta," Langos said in an email. Account deletion means lost revenue and time spent trying to rebuild a following. "In my time in this industry, I've gone through three or four Instagram accounts, constantly trying to re-engage my followers."
Sex workers and sex education creators often face having their content removed, censored, or their entire accounts deleted. Langos said that while the community on TikTok is more popular, she is working to carve out her own space through a website and newsletter. She also plans to stay active on YouTube, Pinterest and Bluesky.
"Given (Mark) Zuckerberg's recent announcements about fact-checking, I don't plan to use Meta products too much," she wrote in an email.
“I’ve found a lot of joy and community on TikTok, primarily through Native TikTok,” said Amanda Chavira, a Native bead who has built an audience through tutorials and cultural content. "I'm sad to see TikTok disappear."
Chavira said she plans to re-upload some of her content to YouTube Shorts to see how her videos perform on YouTube Shorts, but beyond that she will wait to see if another viable video platform comes along. Chavira won't turn to Meta: She said she plans to delete her accounts on Threads, Instagram and Facebook.
"I have long considered leaving my meta account," she said in an email. "During the election cycle, Facebook felt like a scary place, and then the pandemic, and then all the other posts I saw were suggestion ads or clickbait articles. With Instagram, I've really been struggling to reach my target audience, and There’s no time to post all the time to try to drive engagement.” The final straw, she said, was Mehta’s decision to end the fact-checking program and Zuckerberg’s “pandering to the Trump administration.”