President Joe Biden signed into law last year a bipartisan bill that would ban TikTok in the U.S. based on national security concerns unless its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, divests from the company.
The law is slated to go into effect on Jan. 19, but is being challenged in court. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this week whether to pause the the ban, overturn it, or uphold it, which could eliminate access to TikTok for an estimated 170 million users in the U.S.
"I think they're making (national security) a bigger concern than it actually is," said Tiktok content creator @Andr3wsky. (Up To Date is not using Andrew's last name due to his professional law career in Kansas City.)
"Obviously, we should have data privacy and protection laws here in the United States — and I'm glad to see Congress finally acting on that, even in this small capacity, even if I believe that their attempts are a little misguided," Andrew said. "But I think the idea that we should be limiting speech as a matter of national security is fraught with concerns."
While many people use TikTok for entertainment, there are an estimated 7 million content creators who utilize the platform to generate income.
For Luke and Paul Harwerth, twin brothers who go by the handle @Twinsauce, content creation on social media is a full time job. The brothers have over 550,000 followers on TikTok, and use their following to negotiate advertising deals, which make up about 60% of their salary.
"The amount of small businesses that have become massive because of this app, and livelihoods changed, lives changed, is astronomical," said Luke Harweth. "It is inspiring to see how it's worked, where places like other apps, it doesn't happen, like we don't see that level of virality, which can be very beneficial to these smaller companies."
- Luke Harwerth, content creator, @Twinsauce
- Paul Harwerth, content creator, @Twinsauce
- Andrew, content creator, @Andr3wsky