TikTokers across the country are searching for alternative platforms, in response to Joe Biden's decision to sign a bill that will force the video-sharing app's parent company, ByteDance, to sell the company or face being banned in the United States.
"I have confidence in our business, but I know it's going to be double the work," Jose Buzani told KTNV. Buzani is co-owner of the Las Vegas restaurant Tacos El Guero, which has hundreds of thousands of TikTok followers.
"I have half the following on Instagram, so I'm going to do double the work as far as marketing goes," he said. "The success of that shop was because of TikTok. Made enough revenue to where we can get that second shop going."
Buzani is not alone in worrying about how the ban will impact his small business. Small-time entrepreneurs, selling everything from soap to baked goods, use TikTok to market their products.
"Almost every small business right now is on TikTok Shop," Michelle Silva told WBZ. Silva's clothing shop, Kali Rose Boutique, has grown from her garage to a 30,000 square foot warehouse - largely due to TikTok.
"The bralettes have gone viral on TikTok over and over again," she said. "I mean really amazing."
Her business has swelled to more than 40 employees but Silva worries that with a TikTok ban, she'll take a sales hit and have to lay off workers.
"It's very nerve-wracking, not just for myself. It would have a detrimental effect on not only myself, my family, all of my employees that are treated like family," the Massachusetts resident told WBZ.
Other TikTokers have come to rely on the popular app as a way to build relationships and a way to connect with people across geographic distances.
"I found that community and that sense of belonging," Floridian Taylor Shennett told WFTV. "It's about real raw emotions. And I'm able to get on camera and just talk about what I'm feeling about certain subjects. If someone asked me a question, I'm able to hop on and immediately answer that."
Shennett has more than 100,000 followers who watch as she talks about her experience as an adoptee. She first went viral when she shared a 1997 photo of her father carrying her off the plane from China. Like many TikTokers, who share about their personal experiences, Shennett has also earns money from her videos.
"If [TikTok] goes away, there goes a portion of my income," she told WFTV. "On a more personal level, it means a loss of community, it means it would almost feel like my voice was being taken away from me, because I've had a lot of freedom to put out different kinds of content on TikTok... I've been able to connect on a deeper level."
While creators are concerned, however, many are holding out hope that the issue will be resolved before the app is banned altogether. ByteDance has a nine-month deadline that could be extended to at least a year. At the same time, however, TikTok's owners are expected to pursue litigation to keep control of the app.
"I don't want to be dramatic here. They are talking about at least a year," Buzani's business partner, Paul Contino, told KTNV. "Ultimately, I do believe it will become a First Amendment issue. I do believe the Supreme Court will take it up."
