Posted on

13/12/2024

Les créateurs américains de TikTok se préparent à une interdiction : les fans sont invités à les suivre sur Shorts, Reels et Lemon

US TikTok creators are appealing to fans to follow them on alternative platforms, as the prospect of the popular short-video app being banned becomes increasingly likely.

TikTok Ban

A mix of panic, dismay, sadness, and indignation is flooding TikTok as US creators contemplate life without the short-video app and the prospect of the app being banned becomes increasingly likely.

On December 6, a US Federal Appeals Court unanimously upheld a law forcing TikTok’s Chinese owners Bytedance to sell the app or face a ban in the US.

The ruling leaves TikTok, which had leveraged an army of creators to lobby its case on free speech grounds, with dwindling options for remaining operational in the US.

TikTok announced it will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court and immediately filed an emergency motion for an injunction to stop the ban from taking effect on January 19, 2025.

In response to the appeal court’s ruling, TikTokers have taken to the network to ask followers and fans to follow them on Instagram, YouTube or any other social network where they are already present.

Videos abound in which creators give followers instructions on how to find them on other social platforms.

Creators are asking fans to share their Instagram handles in the comments, so they can maintain contact, and others are appealing for fan groups to decide collectively which platform they’ll move to.

Why is TikTok being banned in the US?

The law — Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act —requiring Bytedance to divest TikTok or face a ban, was passed by Congress with a healthy bipartisan majority in April, 2024.

The law gives the US government sweeping powers to ban TikTok and other non-US owned apps that raise concern about the collection of US citizens’ data.

In practice, the law will prohibit app stores like those operated by Google and Apple from letting users download or update TikTok. It allows for huge fines that could total billions of dollars against companies that do not comply with the law, but does not make it illegal for citizens to use TikTok.

The US Justice Department maintains that TikTok poses a threat to national security due to its vast access to the personal data of Americans, and because its Chinese ownership leaves the application open to manipulation by the Chinese government for propaganda purposes.

TikTok has some 170M users in the US. The platform and its supporters argue that banning the app is a violation of the constitutional right to free speech.

In its unanimous ruling, the Federal Court of Appeals dismissed the free speech argument.

“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States,” the court said.

Will Donald Trump prevent a TikTok shutdown?

Having himself tried and failed to implement a TikTok ban in the United States when he was president in 2020, Donald Trump promised his supporters during the recent presidential campaign he would save the platform.

But despite his campaign promise, the prospect of US President-elect Donald Trump being willing, or able, to prevent the law from taking effect is increasingly unlikely.

Trump’s position was based on his hatred of Meta in the wake of being banned from Facebook following the January 6, 2021 assault on Congress. He has said he wants to prevent Meta from becoming more powerful.

Since then, Trump’s support for TikTok appears to have weakened. In an interview following the court ruling, Trump refused to repeat his earlier assertions that he would prevent the TikTok ban, implying instead that Bytedance should sell it.

He has also since dined with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who, in turn, has donated €1M to Trump’s inaugural fund; both clear signs of a thawing of the relationship.

Can TikTok be saved from a ban in the US?

Even if Trump was full-throttle in his support for TikTok, there is little he could actually do, even as president, to save it.

Overturning the TikTok sell-or-ban law would require Congress to pass a new law to repeal it — a difficult prospect given the law passed with a 352-65 majority in the House, and 79-18 majority in the Senate.

Some commentators suggest Trump could simply direct the Justice Department not to enforce the law. This too is a fraught prospect, and not only due to the immorality of the Justice Department not enforcing its own laws.

Such a scenario would require the app stores and internet services that host TikTok to operate illegally, subjecting themselves to the risk of huge fines if Trump was to change his mind and direct the law be enforced.

Meanwhile, Bytedance has said it will not sell TikTok. Not only does the Chinese Government oppose a sale, but Chinese export laws restrict the sale of technologies like TikTok’s algorithm to foreign entities.

In fact, the only realistic option for TikTok to remain operational in the US is for the Supreme Court to rule that the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act is unconstitutional. To date, the Supreme Court has yet to confirm it will even hear the case.

Which platforms will benefit if TikTok is banned in the US?

Similar to when TikTok was banned in India in 2020, TikTok users and creators in the US will migrate to, or become more active on other platforms. In this scenario, it is a reasonable expectation that YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels will win the lion’s share of traffic and ad spend flowing out of TikTok.

There is also the prospect that removing TikTok from the US marketplace will leave room and oxygen for a new player – Bluesky anyone? — to build its userbase.

In addition to other established American-owned social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest and Snapchat, TikTokers are also experimenting with Lemon8, a Bytedance-owned photo sharing app that is often described as an Instagram/Pinterest hybrid.

Notably, Lemon8 integrated with TikTok in November 2024, allowing TikTok users to access the platform with their TikTok accounts.

“Just go follow us on Facebook and go follow us on Instagram and you’ll get other kinds of content from us too,” TikToker Annie (@invitedinred, 266K followers, TikTok) said in a video that instructed followers in how to find her other social media account handles in her bio.

“Currently I don’t post very much on YouTube but that might change depending on how the next 30 days or so go. I have been posting more on Facebook, there are a lot of not nice people on the Facebook, I’m really not a fan of Facebook. And Instagram is kind of hit or miss. We did just recently join Lemon8, so we’re going to start using that platform a little bit.”

How will the US TikTok ban impact creators and influence marketers?

But the ready availability of other social media platforms to take up the TikTok slack does little to assuage the anguish of those who have built businesses on the back of TikTok.

According to TikTok, US small businesses stand to lose €1bn in revenues, and creators €300m in revenues, should the ban go ahead. The company said TikTok Shop booked $100M in single day sales on Black Friday last montth.

“In 2023 alone, the advertising, marketing, and organic reach on TikTok contributed $24.2 billion, and TikTok’s own operations contributed an additional $8.5 billion to the U.S. GDP,” TikTok said in a statement.

And without the famous TikTok algorithm, will it become harder for small content creators to be discovered? Will content become more homogenised?

Looking at the example of the TikTok ban in India, Shorts and Reels quickly hoovered up the creators and followers left languishing by the loss of TikTok. But many in the country say banning TikTok resulted in a loss of localized content and made it harder for small creators to be discovered, according to a report in the New York Times.

TikTok is renowned for delivering raw and entertaining content that resonates deeply with audiences. The particularity of its algorithm brings content creators and brands a viral visibility that other platforms have been unable to replicate.

As such, US SMEs relying on organic TikTok content to reach audiences will be forced to up their game on alternative platforms.

Marketers and brands already running multi-platform influence and social media strategies will be best-placed to absorb the impact of a TikTok ban. As will top creators who have replicated their huge followings on multiple platforms.

In all cases, however, the ban will force a re-evaluation of content formats with a view to adapting to, and maximizing the particularities of each platform. Expect to see brands and creators leaning into a test-and-learn approach with relation to creator partnerships and content formats on alternative platforms.

After all, it is no secret that video content that works on TikTok does not automatically replicate to Shorts and Reels with the same success.

There is also the question of whether audiences will follow their favourite TikTokers to new platforms, and if they do, will the content produced on those platforms be to their taste?

Only time will tell.

About Kolsquare

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