Creators and marketers in Europe and the UK are reassessing their influence strategies as events around the TikTok ban in the US continue to roil the social media landscape.
It’s crunch time for TikTok in the US, as the platform suspended its service on Sunday in response to the Supreme Court's decision that rejected its appeal against a law forcing the Chinese social media platform to be sold or face an outright ban.
With TikTok’s parent company ByteDance having consistently refused to entertain the option of selling the platform to a US owner, TikTok shut down the platform on Sunday, January 19, 2025.
In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on Friday, TikTok had said that unless the US government provided assurances to service providers that they would not be penalised for hosting the app, it would be forced to go dark.
TikTok reinstated the platform for users following a statement from President-elect Donald Trump, who said he would issue an executive order to delay the law’s implementation for 90 days once he assumes office on Monday, January 20.
Trump said companies hosting the platform would not face liability for preventing TikTok from “going dark” before his order.
“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without US approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions,” Trump said in a social media post on Sunday.
“Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the US gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the US and whichever purchase we so choose.”
Whether Trump, once inaugurated as president, has the power to subvert the ban remains unclear, with provisions allowing for a 90-day extension dependent on progress towards a sale being made before the law is implemented, which is not the case.
Passed by the US Congress in April 2024 with bipartisan support, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act requires Bytedance to divest TikTok to US owners or face a ban.
In practice, the law prohibits app stores like those operated by Google and Apple from letting users download or update TikTok. It also prohibits internet providers like Oracle, which hosts TikTok data on its cloud infrastructure, from distributing or updating TikTok content.
Companies that fail to comply with the law could be subject to massive fines, but the law itself does not make it illegal for US citizens to use TikTok.
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.
The US Justice Department has maintained 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 panic, US creators are posting farewell videos, signing up for alternative social media applications like Red Note, or asking their audiences to follow them on alternative platforms like Instagram or Facebook. Similarly, international accounts like Australia’s @stickylollies who have found US audiences on TikTok are encouraging US audiences to follow them on alternative platforms.
Meanwhile, marketers are flooding LinkedIn with advice on turning off TikTok advertising and mitigating the impact of the ban through diversification onto platforms like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.
For creators and marketers in Europe and the UK, the situation is no less uncertain. More than its competitors YouTube or Instagram, TikTok’s proprietary algorithm has the ability to send content viral globally, delivering a boon for creators, influencers and brands looking to reach international audiences.
“On TikTok, when a video goes viral, it goes viral across multiple territories. It impacts you on a global perspective, whereas Instagram is very much territory heavy. On TikTok, even if most of the followers are UK based, if the video goes viral, we see a lot of connection between the US, UK and Europe, it's harder to control,” CurrentBody Senior Partnerships Manager Andra Dorolti explained to Kolsquare earlier this year.
With TikTok potentially going dark once again in the US, European and UK brands and creators catering to global audiences can expect to see reduced engagement and conversions if US audiences drop off.
Advertisers with a transatlantic focus may pull back on campaigns due to uncertainties, affecting TikTok’s ad revenue and potentially reallocating budgets to other platforms in Europe and the UK. Cross-border collaborations between creators could decline, impacting influencer marketing campaigns for brands running international messages.
The runaway success of TikTok Shop, which has reportedly generated $8bn in global sales to date, means that banning the app in the US also will have a significant economic impact.
The impact of the ban could both ignite curiosity around TikTok amongst UK and European users, while also leading them to preemptively shift to other platforms.
“Retailers should also focus on building first-party data and robust owned channels: email lists, websites and loyalty apps to cushion against disruptions,” managing director of UK influencer marketing agency Summer Joslin told Retail Week.
“All platforms have an element of risk, so no retailer should put all their eggs in one basket – blending your approach whilst building your own data is a chance to safeguard against risk for the long term.”
While the concept of a TikTok ban in the UK or Europe is highly unlikely, authorities in both regions are watching events in the US closely.
Both the UK and the EU have banned government officials from downloading TikTok onto official devices due to data security concerns similar to those playing out in the US around the sell-or-ban law. A UK government minister on Sunday confirmed the government has no plans to ban TikTok, "unless or until, at some point in the future there is a threat that we are concerned about in the British interest".
Both the UK and Europe have enacted robust internet safety laws in recent years. Repeated violations of EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) could, for example, lead to temporary suspension of a social media network.
Looking ahead, TikTok can expect the EU to continue to hold a blowtorch to its activities; the European Commission has already launched several investigations into TikTok’s compliance with the DSA.
These include whether TikTok breached the DSA in areas related to the protection of minors and advertising transparency and its adherence to DSA obligations concerning the assessment and mitigation of systemic risks linked to election integrity following allegations of foreign interference during the Romanian Presidential elections in December 2024.
Kolsquare is Europe’s leading Influencer Marketing platform, offering a data-driven solution that empowers brands to scale their KOL (Key Opinion Leader) marketing strategies through authentic partnerships with top creators.
Kolsquare’s advanced technology helps marketing professionals seamlessly identify the best content creators by filtering their content and audience, while also enabling them to build, manage, and optimize campaigns from start to finish. This includes measuring results and benchmarking performance against competitors.
With a thriving global community of influencer marketing experts, Kolsquare serves hundreds of customers—including Coca-Cola, Netflix, Sony Music, Publicis, Sézane, Sephora, Lush, and Hermès—by leveraging the latest Big Data, AI, and Machine Learning technologies. Our platform taps into an extensive network of KOLs with more than 5,000 followers across 180 countries on Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat.
As a Certified B Corporation, Kolsquare leads the way in promoting Responsible Influence, championing transparency, ethical practices, and meaningful collaborations that inspire positive change.
Since October 2024, Kolsquare has become part of the Team.Blue group, one of the largest private tech companies in Europe, and a leading digital enabler for businesses and entrepreneurs across Europe. Team.Blue brings together over 60 successful brands in web hosting, domains, e-commerce, online compliance, lead generation, application solutions, and social media.
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