By Sunday, the Supreme Court will issue its ruling on the TikTok ban’s constitutionality.
Current chatter suggests they’re likely to rule in favor of the ban, which would remove TikTok from American app stores unless ByteDance sells it to a U.S. company. TikTok has primarily faced criticism for its large-scale data collection and perceived anti-American bias. In response to the ban, TikTok plans to deactivate its app in the United States, which would impact roughly 150 million American users.
While the ban will affect all TikTok users, one group will be hit hardest: creators. The creator economy is worth over $250 billion, and TikTok hosts more than one million influencers, many of whom make a living or supplement their income through the platform.
In particular, many of these influencers hail from the Duke community.
The Chronicle spoke with Duke's student and alumni creators to understand how the ban may impact them and their work. Here’s what we learned.
Scenario One: Total Deactivation
In this scenario, TikTok rules in the government’s favor and ByteDance shuts down its U.S. operations. As TikTok is the main platform devoted entirely to short-form content, the ban would strike such creators hardest.
Natalia Hauser, Trinity ‘24, a lifestyle creator operating under the tag @natisstyle, said that creators will have to migrate to other platforms to survive if TikTok is banned. Hauser emphasized that this migration will be especially hard for creators who haven’t built a multi-platform following. Allison Chen, Trinity ‘24, who creates cooking and baking content as @al.chenny, shared this view, discussing how she crossposts her content to multiple platforms – a practice both she and Hauser recommended. Chen also mentioned the value of tailoring content to each platform.
Daniel Lim, Trinity ‘24, who posts college-related content as @limmytalks, said he believes a TikTok ban won’t shrink audiences overall. Instead, these audiences will likely move elsewhere, so creators must watch where their viewers migrate and follow them there.
However, even if creators manage to successfully migrate to other platforms, they’ll face other problems. Chen said TikTok has historically been her most lucrative platform. While its advantage has eroded over time, creators will still struggle to earn enough on other platforms. Additionally, TikTok’s interface is a major selling point. Senior Sarah Muzzy, a part-time content creator who posts as @sarahmpov, discussed how intuitive and easy TikTok’s UI was when she started. The algorithm and community on TikTok also stood out among other platforms as uniquely nurturing and supportive of fledgling creators, something mentioned by both Muzzy and senior Katie Xu, president of Duke’s Creator Lab who posts as @katiexsocials.
Muzzy said that in the event of a TikTok ban, she will likely have to pivot to a new style of content since different platforms have different cultures. As a student creator, she worries she won’t have as much time to devote to this transition as full-time creators.
Scenario Two: Changes to TikTok
If TikTok wants to remain on the app store post-ban, ByteDance would need to sell to a domestic company. Potential buyers include internet advocacy group Project Liberty, YouTuber MrBeast and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. While unlikely, a sale would likely result in fundamental changes to TikTok as a platform, including potential algorithm and data policy tweaks.
While better for the creator ecosystem than an outright ban, this still isn’t ideal. Hauser said this would allow creators to keep their audiences and avoid a disruptive transition. The platform’s profitability, as noted by Chen, would likely decrease. And as both Lin and Muzzy mentioned, TikTok’s nurturing environment for young creators could disappear.
A common sentiment was that current TikTok is almost like lightning in a bottle: Any change could jeopardize what makes it so special.
What Next for Creators?
Most of the creators The Chronicle spoke with said they would likely survive a TikTok ban.
Many have already heavily diversified or branched out into other work. Namely, Hauser also does social media strategy and advisory work, while Lin works with startups and other companies to design innovative ads.
However, most of the content creators expressed concerns about the ban’s impact on the overall creator community. They agreed that while more experienced creators, especially those on multiple platforms, would be fine, newer creators would struggle and many would likely drop out of the space.
Muzzy noted that while she and other part-time creators don’t live off of their earnings, the income is still significant — she pays part of her tuition with it. Xu also talked about how TikTok’s algorithm enabled everyday people to become creators and produce viral content more easily than on YouTube or other platforms.
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Banning TikTok will eliminate many of these creators.
In spite of it all, nearly every creator The Chronicle spoke with found a bright side to the ban. Hauser said the ban could amplify creators’ voices and show the world the positive impact of the creator community. Chen suggested the idea of the ban might be scarier than the reality. And Muzzy said it could make more people understand that content creation is real work that sustains many livelihoods.
Duke creators value their work and want to keep doing it — though not all of them full-time. A ruling unfavorable to TikTok would make that harder for everyone.
Zev van Zanten is a Trinity junior and recess editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.
Tina Qian is a Trinity sophomore and an arts editor for Recess.