TikTok may be banned in the U.S. on Sunday ― not because of the app’s addictive nature, but for user privacy concerns.
In 2024, President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. This gave the platform 165 days to separate from ByteDance, its parent company operated by China.
The app could avoid being banned if it is sold to a U.S. investor or the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, per Reuters.
President-elect Donald Trump has advocated to save TikTok from the ban and has asked for an extension of Sunday’s deadline.
Here’s more on the TikTok ban, and how Upstate content creators may be affected should it be passed.
Why is TikTok a threat to national security in the US?
According to Clio, the U.S. government is concerned with TikTok due to fears of user data being leaked by ByteDance. Western security interests could be at risk in the scenario that the Chinese government orders ByteDance to share user data.
What information does TikTok collect from users?
TikTok’s Privacy Policy states the app may collect the following information from users, per Clio:
∎ Profile information (usernames, passwords, birth dates, contact information, and any information disclosed in a user’s profile).
∎ User content (uploaded photographs, audio, and videos).
∎ Messages within the app.
∎ Purchase information (payment cards, billing, delivery, contact information, and purchased items).
∎ User engagement, inferred information (IP addresses, time zones settings, mobile carriers, keystroke patterns), location information, and more.
How many TikTok users are in the U.S.?
There are over 170 million TikTok users in the country.
TikTok ban could impacts jobs of Upstate content creators
Greenville resident Bailey Lavender is a hairstylist who uses TikTok for content creation. She currently has over 2.9 million followers and relies on the platform for income outside her day job. Charley Lavender, Bailey Lavender’s spouse and full time brand manager, described how a TikTok ban could affect her job.
“My entire job is to make sure that whenever they (creators) do these marketing things that I have all this stuff lined up,” Charley Lavender previously told The Greenville News. “So if TikTok goes away, then my job is eliminated and I have to figure out another platform to help them, where these other creators go on, where we can do marketing.”
The Lavenders aren’t the only local content creators whose livelihood depends on TikTok. Spartanburg’s Jorden Hall, who went viral in December 2023 for the “Angel Tree Trend,” is another local who relies on the platform to work full time.
“If TikTok is banned, my career will be immediately ripped from me. It’s baffling that everything I have worked for over the years can be taken away with just a vote,” Hall previously told the Greenville News. “It will not only be my career but also millions of other content creators across the United States. TikTok has helped so many small businesses grow their reach over the years.”
What alternatives are TikTokers moving to?
These are the top 10 alternative apps social media users are looking into amid the potential TikTok ban, per a USA TODAY story:
∎ Lemon8
∎ RedNote
∎ Instagram Reels
∎ Facebook Reels
∎ YouTube Shorts
∎ Clapper
∎ Triller
∎ Fanbase
∎ Neptune
∎ Twitch
Nina Tran covers trending topics for The Greenville News. Reach her via email at ntran@gannett.com.
