CLEVELAND — Could TikTok be banned in the U.S.? President Joe Biden signed a bill Wednesday that states "Byte Dance,” the owners of the China-based app, must sell the platform, or it will be banned in the U.S. If that happens, users in Cleveland who rely on the app for business, community and more could be affected.
TikTok is used for all kinds of things: food, travel or even some simple Ohio banter; all it takes is for one video to go viral, and business accounts like East 81st Deli’s will go from 10,000 followers to 300,000.
“East 81st Deli is the home of the chicken salad; we call it the tik tok salad,” said Wael Herbawi, the Owner of East 81st Deli.
Wael posted a video of a customer eating and reacting to their infamous chicken salad on their TikTok account @81stdeli, and just like that, customers were lined up out the door and coming from out of town to try it.
“People don't look at ads, they look at TikTok," Wael continued. “It probably increased double my business; at first, it quadrupled it.”
On Laney Hendershot’s account @LaneyintheLand, she isn't boosting a business but instead promoting her state.
“I think that it wouldn't be as well-known that Ohio is a great state if not for TikTok,” said Laney.
Through her Ohio slang, skits and weather posts, Laney has more than 100,000 followers who just love Ohio.
“I have really found a community that I love I’ve been able to connect with businesses and counties and parts of the state that I’ve hardly traveled to,” said Laney.
Laney is a part-time creator and has started to diversify her portfolio.
But with a possible TikTok ban looming, Laney and Wael worry they could lose all that exposure.
“I hate it, it's kind of like taking something that got me to a certain place and now they're going to take it from us,” said Wael.
“It would impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of small business owners that are working very hard and they're putting in time as if it were a full time job,” said Laney.
But Nikki Hannway isn't worried; she works in PR and is also a content creator; her account is @CraveCle.
“It's not going away tomorrow. It's still such a great platform to reach your audience,” said Nikki.
She said right now, it's crucial for creators to diversify their accounts.
“If something were to happen to TikTok, what's going to happen is they're going to go to Instagram reels, Facebook reels or YouTube short. So, make sure you have that presence already on those established platforms,” said Nikki.
Adding that, though the talk about a ban is scary, social media platforms are always evolving; just look at Vine.
“One thing that we keep seeing over and over within the social industry is that a lot of time, these platforms are going to pick off what's successful from the other platforms. For instance, we didn't have Instagram reels, we had Instagram videos before, but then once TikTok was really growing. Then, we saw the introduction of Instagram reels and Facebook reels. YouTube shorts has become more popular. So, there's still going to be a short-form option just on these other platforms,” said Nikki.
So, she recommends content creators keep posting; just make sure it's posted on all platforms.
Under the law, TikTok has 270 days, which is about nine months, to divest operations. The company can get a 3-month extension if a deal is imminent.
But, experts say a sale could take much longer than that for many reasons, including there's most certainly going to be a court battle over the law.
